John Connor: A New Hero Born
by GertrudePerkins9
Summary: What happens when John Connor becomes a superhero with all the abilities known from series Heroes? My version of the TSCC story starts on John's 16th birthday when he obtains and discovers his powers.
1. Prologue

**1\. Prologue**

 **Foreword**

 _Some time ago it just popped up in my mind: what if I mix my two favorite TV shows in order to get a superhero John Connor._

 _Although this story is strictly speaking a crossover between TSCC and Heroes, it is, in fact, a Terminator story merged with some elements from the Heroes Universe. That means characters from Heroes won't appear in the storyline physically. Only John will be able to communicate with them... well in a mysterious way. I will attempt to sum up everything that should be known about the Heroes line so my story could be followed by those as well who are not at all familiar with Heroes._

 _A warning to everyone who would expect a FanFic keeping a closer connection with the original storyline: this one will not. The characters will be quite A.U. after some development. Quite a few characters will emerge who are the creatures solely of my imagination. Lots of elements will be kept, however, from the original show just to run some kind of simulation what could have happened with a superhero John Connor. Otherwise, this story will be sort of a reboot to Season 2._

 _Also, those who can't stand Jameron stories: this one will definitely be not for them. Fluffy scenes can sometimes be expected which are kinda surprising because I'm not at all a romantic guy. :)_

 _On the other hand, I'm going to make some attempts to tie up loose ends and correct inconsistencies which occurred in the show. There are a lot of them._

 _I need to emphasize that English is not my first language and I have no previous experience with writing stories like this. So please remain calm ( ;) ) if a make some mistakes or my dialogues are not as polished as they are for native and/or experienced writers. Beta readers/reviewers are highly welcome, nonetheless!_

 _Now the obligatory disclaimer: I own neither "Terminator - The Sarah Connor Chronicles", nor "Heroes", nor "The 4400", nor any other TV Shows, nor the Terminator or Star Wars movies. Although no reference will be given to the Firefly/Serenity universe, I don't own them either, of course. :)_

 _Now let's get started with the story._

* * *

 **Wednesday, November 14th, 2007, West Hollywood, 0230 hours local**

John Connor was dreaming. Or at least he believed he was.

He had a tough day before, he was exhausted like hell when he went to bed. Still, he could not fell asleep as his mind was racing heavily on all of the events of the day. When Sarkissian held a gun to his head and how his uncle shot boldly into the gangster's forehead. He could hear the bullet flying very near to his head, he could feel its draft and could hear the impact. And in the next moment, he was in the arms of his mother. He felt again the confusion when he suddenly needed to adapt to the situation when leaving the museum with Morris. Although he tried to disguise his embarrassment, he felt a bit dizzy when he rode shotgun in the Mercedes of the goon, while Cameron was driving.

Cameron.

In the past two months, he was constantly thinking about his relationship with his beautiful cyborg protector. He was desperately trying to deny, even from himself, the incredibly strong attraction he felt. The strongest attraction he was experienced in his entire life towards a girl. He couldn't get out of his head those lovely eyes, that angelic face, and the sweet voice when they first met back in Red Valley, New Mexico.

"What is your name?"

"John."

"Cameron."

But unfortunately, or fortunately, the moment of truth had come and she had not used her infiltration protocol anymore as it was no longer necessary for her mission. Sometimes, however, she could surprise him. Her voice, when she noticed how "effective" Vick was when he touched Barbara's lips... Almost as she was pleading for being touched the same way by John. And deep inside he wanted not only to touch her lips but test with his owns how soft they were. Pull her in a tight embrace, inhaling the sweet scent of her hair, then kissing her, first her lips then her neck going down slowly towards her shoulders, enjoying the touch of her beautiful skin...

He had no idea how she would react, though. Worst, he knew _exactly_ how his mother and uncle would react. And the other resistance fighters, after J-Day, when they would learn that the leader of Humanity is in love with a terminator, a creation of Skynet. No, he can't let that happen. He needs to suppress his continuously increasing desire for Cameron.

As he was in his dream, he found himself somewhere in downtown LA. The place was somewhat familiar for him, but he couldn't pinpoint the location. He could see nobody in the streets, and that was very weird. He was walking for a while and still saw nobody around, the entire city seemed deserted. As walking from streets to streets he shouted if someone was around but nobody answered. "The bastards," he thought "They dropped the bombs, eventually". But all buildings were intact, something was odd.

Suddenly he sighted a group of people who started walking towards him and eventually surrounded him. At first, he felt threatened, but all of them were smiling and waved to him. Men and women, white, black, and Asian — to all appearances he found no obvious connection between them.

"John Connor!" a tall man with horn-rimmed glasses addressed him, "it's a pleasure to meet you."

"What the Hell," John grumbled, feeling threatened again.

"Don't worry," a friendly faced Japanese guy with glasses said smiling. "We are not here to harm you. In fact, we are here to help you."

"Help me?" John asked sheepishly.

"Yes. For your fight. Against Skynet."

"You know about Skynet? Who are you, people?"

"We are from an alternate timeline," the Japanese guy said. "For you now it looks like a dream. In fact, it isn't," he assured him, answering John's unspoken thought. "It is now a crossing point between your timeline and ours," he added. "Let me introduce myself. I am Hiro Nakamura," he made a slight and quick bow. "Almost all of us you see around have a special ability. Mine is to manipulate the space-time continuum."

"You mean... time travel and teleportation?"

"Yes. And stopping time. And without the need of a TDE."

"Awesome," John said. "But is it possible? I mean I time traveled once, but that equipment required a lot of energy and we only could travel to a different time, but to the same place... And we arrived naked," he smiled with a hint of embarrassment.

Hiro suddenly disappeared from him and reappeared behind John.

"See? It is that simple and I have all my clothes," he smiled.

"I wish I had this ability," John sighed.

"You will. That's why we are here," a black haired guy said. "My name is Peter Petrelli, by the way. My ability is to absorb other abilities. I lost all of them once, but they were restored recently by Matt's son," he pointed to a very cop-like man. "To make the long story short: we were exposed to the entire world and the consequences were not so nice," he grimaced. "So we figured out that we could end up our timeline, or more precisely, merge into yours. Our powers would be transferred to you, and we would return back to our normal lives. Not without your consent, of course."

"What are those powers, anyway?" John asked with a sudden excitement.

"Well, I can do time travel as well. And I can go through walls, and other hard objects, I can manipulate electricity, that is, generate electric bolts. I can heal, I can dream and paint the future, I can be invisible. I can fly. And what I'd acquired from Hiro's father will be probably not unknown for General Connor: the ability to study situations and predict the outcome."

John couldn't say anything just stared at him with wide eyes.

"I'm Charlie Andrews," an old lady said who stood beside Hiro hooking on him. "What I do is superlearning. I have an advanced enhanced memory, and I can very quickly understand what I memorize. It started with a blood clot in my brain, but I was healed by him," she laughed shortly and pointed to a tall unshaven man.

"My name is Gabriel," the unshaven guy with piercing eyes said. "I'm also known as Sylar, but I don't like that name anymore as it reminds me of my dark past. I was evil, I did horrible things most of the others here haven't forgiven me. But I realized it's much better to save the world than to destroy it. This is also a warning for you, John. Never become too thirsty with your powers and never lose control over yourself."

"I... I understand," John said. "And what are those dangerous powers of yours?"

"My first one was intuitive aptitude. That means I can instantly learn and understand how things work. Even very complex things. Then telekinesis followed."

"Wow!"

"Yeah, that'll be handy when you fight with hostile cyborgs. They'll be no match for you," he smirked. "Superhearing is also pretty useful. When I concentrate I can hear the heartbeat of other people from quite a distance. The side effect of this ability is another ability: lie detecting. I can manipulate matter in different ways: I can melt it, I can do disintegration but the most interesting ability in this regard is the one to do the change in subatomic level. That means alchemy," he said with a smirk.

"You're also gonna like this one," he continued in John's voice, while he took John's appearance and after a few seconds morphed back.

"Wow, that seemed like what the T1000 did," John said.

"Not quite," Gabriel answered. "It was only an illusion. I made your mind believe that you saw yourself."

"Now, this is what a T1000'd do," he continued and while his face reflected pain he transferred again, this time to a tall girl. "If security cameras recorded me you'd see this girl and you'd hear this girl's voice."

"And who is this girl, anyway?" John asked.

"My girlfriend," a blond girl answered. "Gosh, you show so strong resemblance to an old friend of mine. He was called Zach." She gave him a warm smile. "My name is Claire. Claire Bennet."

John smiled as well. "Nice to meet you, Claire... And what is your specialty?"

"Rapid cell regeneration. That means physical injuries heal in a matter of seconds for me."

"God, that sounds good," John said.

"Once I cut down my toe just as a test. It grew back in less than ten seconds."

No one said anything for a few seconds. John could hardly absorb what he'd just heard. Eventually, a tall black man broke the silence.

"I'm René. Also known as 'The Haitian'. I can block other people's abilities and also erase memories... That's a dangerous ability," he warned John. "Use it with great care."

"That actually goes for most of these abilities," the cop-like guy said. "My name is Matt Parkman. I have the ability of telepathy. But there is one I inherited from my father. I can implant thoughts into other people's minds."

"That's a lot to take in," John said a little frightened.

"Sure, we can understand. Take your time, you'll need to practice a lot to master all of these abilities. And of course the others we haven't mentioned yet."

"There are more?" John asked.

"You're gonna like this one," a black boy said smiling. "I'm Micah Sanders, and what I do is called technopathy. Meaning to control and manipulate electronics."

"How does that work?" John asked excitedly. "You control electronics by touching them?"

"Actually it also works remotely. For example, I can switch traffic signals just by concentrating them and asking. Once I even hacked into government systems bypassing the strongest firewalls with ease."

"Does it mean...?"

"Yes. You'll be able to reprogram terminators remotely. Even without physical contact or removing their chips."

"I can hardly believe it," John said shaking his head.

"I know that feeling," a pretty black girl said smiling who was holding Micah's hand. "I was flabbergasted first when I saw what Micah could do. Or when I realized what I could do. I'm Monica Dawson, by the way."

"Pleasure to meet you, Monica," John smiled. "And what is you're capable of?"

"It's called adoptive muscle memory. It's the ability to copy any physical movement I see. As long as it doesn't require a special ability."

"You mean you can turn into a martial artist just by watching TV?"

"Precisely. First I noticed this ability when I saw wrestling on TV and later I kicked a robber the same way without realizing what I was doing."

"Cool," John smiled sheepishly.

"My name is Tracy Strauss," a tall blonde said who was standing near Monica. "I can manipulate water with my mind."

"What do you mean?"

"I can control water flow, collect water from elsewhere, and I can survive in water without the need to breathe," she said.

"That's awesome, too," John answered excited, then looked to an Indian guy, who was smiling to him.

"I'm Mohinder Suresh," the Indian man said with English accent. "I'm a genetics professor and did a lot of research on superhuman abilities. I developed a way to obtain abilities and tested it on myself. As a result, I have enhanced strength."

"I also gained my ability synthetically," the other Japanese guy said. "I'm Ando Masahashi and what I do is supercharging. That means amplifying other people's abilities. In your case only your abilities, because in your timeline you will be the only one with special powers, there will be no other evolved humans. And I can generate a lightning-like red burst of energy also."

"My name is Molly Walker," a little girl said. "I was held captive by the mysterious organization called the Company and was referred to as the Tracking System. That's what I can do, track people, find their locations just by concentrating on them."

"That's a very useful ability too," John nodded. "And how about you," he asked a muscular man, who hasn't said anything so far.

"I'm Edgar, I'm from Scotland," he answered. "My power is super speed. I'm so fast I can dodge multiple bullets at point-blank range. And I feel no fatigue even after running very long distance at superhuman speed."

"Yeah, he made me curse a few times, but eventually joined us to the good side," the man with horn-rimmed glasses said smiling. "My name is Noah Bennet, and I'm the only one here who has no special ability. On the other hand, I know everything about the abilities. I worked for the Company for quite long. I give you one of those emblematic guns the Company had used," he said and gave John an expensively looking .45 handgun which resembled the M1911, but in a much more polished and high-quality style.

"Now, son, you know everything about your powers which you will master soon," he continued. "They won't work in an instant, though. You'll need the determination to use all of these. A vocation to be the one who employs them to save mankind. But we know you are already determined to that. After all, you are John Connor. But you need practice. A lot of practice, actually. Now, have you got any questions?"

"I don't know," John said sheepishly. "Perhaps, to you, Peter. How does the healing power work?"

"Well, the self-healing is almost automatic. You can mentally slow down the process, though, if you want to, say, avoid raising suspicions. If you want to heal others, then you should put your hands over the injured area and concentrate. Everything then will be a matter of seconds."

"Your blood will have an incredibly strong healing power too," Claire added. "It is even possible to resurrect the dead within a certain time frame."

"How long is that time frame?" John asked.

"We don't know that exactly," Mohinder answered. "A couple of hours for sure. I only used Claire's blood once for resurrection."

"To resurrect me, to be more specific," Noah Bennet said with a smirk. "Just after you'd been so kind to shoot me in the head."

"You provoked that," Mohinder shrugged, "and I knew that Claire's blood would work."

"I... I just can't find words to express how excited I am," John said. "But I can't think of any more questions. Oh, maybe one more. The memory removal. Is it permanent?"

"As far as I know, it is," the Haitian answered.

"We did some experiments," Bennet said. When René erased someone's memories, then it was final. Those memories never came back, no hypnosis helped on that."

"We know of one exception, though," René added. "Once I scrubbed Peter's memories, but they were restored. Probably because of his self-healing abilities."

"If you want a temporary memory erase then use Matt's manipulation's technique. That way you can also plant false memories in someone's mind."

"Okay, I won't forget that," John said.

"This is definitely not the last time we met," Hiro said. "You can find us again if you have questions. Just go into a meditative state and concentrate heavily on this particular place where we are now. And yes, practice a lot. I also advise you to train the concentration. When you use these powers you need to exclude every disturbing thought from your mind. Just one thought can remain: what you are doing, the ability you are using."

"And use these powers with caution," he continued. "I know you will be excited about time travel. But it could be quite dangerous, it's a personal experience. I strongly advise you not to mess too much with the time."

"All right, I understand that," John said. "I'll do the best I can. And thank you, all of you for everything and for the trust you place in me."

He looked down into his hand holding the Company gun and while he was fixating it the dream started to dissolve and soon he fell into a deep dreamless sleep.

* * *

He woke up with the urge of taking a leak. Went to the bathroom and he was constantly thinking of the strange dream. The dream was very vivid and he almost felt the weight of the 'Company gun' in his hand. "What if it was all true? What if I had all the power which appeared in the dream?" he thought. "That'd be so damn great."

While washing his hands he fixated the towel and stretched his arm towards it. "Let's give it a try," he murmured hoping to utilize some telekinetic power.

The towel didn't move any closer. With a sigh, he gave up and went back to his room. Although he saw all the Star Wars movies and was familiar with the entire story, he failed to remember Yoda's most cited quote.

"Do... or do not. There is no try."

* * *

 **Author's notes: So this is it for the first chapter. Again, any help with proofreading/beta reading would be highly appreciated.**


	2. Birthday

**2\. Birthday**

 **Wednesday, November 14th, 2007, West Hollywood, 0650 hours local**

John woke up again in the morning and as soon as he got out of the bed he heard two knocks on the door.

"Come in."

Cameron closed the door behind her and John saw a box in her hand.

"Hey, Cameron, whats up?"

"Last night I studied traditions and cultural habits related to birthdays. I understand now that birthday presents like a flak west or this one are not the most appropriate ones, but it will be useful for you, nevertheless."

"Wow, did you really buy me a birthday present?"

"Actually I didn't buy it. I found it in the trunk of the Mercedes. Probably belonged to Sarkissian's thug. Or he might have stolen it somewhere. But open up the box."

John looked at the content of the box and felt dazed.

"The Company gun," he whispered.

"What do you mean Company gun?" Cameron tilted her head as usual when she didn't understand something. "This is a Strayer Voight Infinity chambered in .45 ACP with 14 rounds. One of the most precise and valuable handguns out there. The compensator, with these vents here, reduces the recoil and helps you keeping the gun on the target when you need to fire multiple shots quickly. That's because the gases are directed upward so they will exert a downward force counteracting the muzzle rise.

Later, I'm going to prepare some armor piercing ammo for the gun so you will be able to stop Cromartie if you hit his chip. Might not kill him with it, but stop for a while."

"Thank you so much! I ... I don't know what to say, I'm surprised!" He hesitated to ask the important question. "Is it only my safety?"

"What do you mean, John?"

"Do you give me the present only because of my safety, or is there any other reason as well?"

"I wanted you to have a happy day," Cameron said in a low voice. "It is important for me that you are happy."

"But why? It is not your mission."

"I... I don't know why," Cameron said meekly. She looked up straight in John's eyes. "You are the only purpose of my existence."

John's heart sank for a moment and with a sudden movement he pulled Cameron into a tight embrace. "And you are very important for me," he whispered. Cameron hugged him back awkwardly but broke from the embrace a moment later.

"No, John!" she said with an unusual passion in her voice. "I cannot be important. You are important, only you!" she continued. "If you develop feelings for me that could be dangerous. If I'm damaged beyond repair, for example."

"I wouldn't let you down, Cameron!"

"That's what I'm talking about... I know about Uncle Bob. Future You told me everything... Watching him get destroyed was one of the hardest things you had ever done. But you did the right thing! And you might have to do that again in the future if I go down. I don't want to be a liability!"

"I can't let that happen," she whispered and John could swear that her eyes went watery. "Happy birthday," she said in a trembling voice then turned around and rushed out of the room.

John fell back on the bed, staring at the ceiling. "What the hell was that?" he thought. "Those were clearly emotions." He was pretty certain, those were genuine, as he found no logical reason why she would fake those. "Damn, I think I'm in love! Just as if my life was not fucked up enough, already." He closed his eyes in desperation.

"John!" he heard his mother shouting. "Time for breakfast!"

"Coming!" he shouted back.

He looked down at the Infinity again, observed its excellent build quality, measured its weight in his hand, just as he did in his dream. It was an M1911 style gun with a six-inch barrel and open hammer. The holes of the compensator made its look quite uncommon. The Infinity seemed a very new handgun, maybe had never been fired before. It was a piece of artwork. The gun was unloaded and the spare magazine in the box was empty too. He was unaccustomed to the .45 ACP caliber, though, as he had been trained to use 9x19 mm handguns most of the time. "I'm gonna need some .45 ammo and some practice with it, but it's worth it," he thought.

With a sigh he closed the gun back in the box, quickly dressed up fully and went to the kitchen.

* * *

"You two are not going to school today," Sarah said firmly. "I already called them and told that you had gotten the flu."

John raised his eyebrow questioningly. "She might not have forgotten my birthday," he thought.

"You need to work on the hard drive we acquired yesterday," she said. "I strongly hope you'll find something which will lead us to the Turk."

John frowned and felt disappointed again. With a sulking face, he was nibbling the pancake his mother had prepared. The infamous pancakes which were still good, at least by Sarah's standard. He stole a glance at Cameron, who stood like a statue in front of the window. "The only one," he thought, "who didn't forget my birthday". He tried to imagine how a birthday cake, prepared by his mother, would look like, or smell like or taste like. He shivered a bit, and suddenly found the pancake a bit more tasteful.

"What did you do with the corpse and the Mercedes?" Sarah asked Cameron.

"Yet another excellent topic for breakfast," John thought.

"I burned the corpse with thermite," Cameron answered.

"To burn humans or terminators... you seem to prefer kinda standardization for such processes," Sarah said sarcastically.

Cameron left that uncommented. "I cleaned the car thoroughly and left it in a public place. Police won't check it for at least 30 days."

* * *

A few minutes later John was working busily on his computer while his mother stood behind him eagerly watching him. After a few moments, she gently stroke his neck.

"Mom!"

"Sorry."

"Look, he double-encrypted the hard drive. I've unlocked a lot of it but there's still a lot left to go through."

"How much?"

"About a thousand useful files, each takes about five minutes to decrypt... and I'm on number 37. You do the math," he said dryly, trying to hide his resentfulness because of his forgotten birthday.

Sarah noticed of course that he was sulking, suppressed a smile and gently stroke his back this time. "Let me know when you have something."

John just briefly nodded.

She walked outside, exchanged a look with Derek who stood at the door waiting for the occasion being alone with John.

* * *

When Sarah left Derek walked into John's bedroom.

"How're you holding up?"

"I'm all right," he said his fingers running on the keyboard with a pace that impressed Derek.

Derek looked outside the window contemplating a bit how to bring up his idea.

"So it's your birthday," he said finally.

"How... how'd you know?"

"You kidding? I celebrated your 40th with you."

John smiled releasing some of his tension. "How was that?"

Derek smiled too. "You got drunk as a skunk."

They both laughed.

"Come on," Derek said, "I'll buy you a beer."

"I'm 16."

"All right, I'll buy you an ice cream cone... Come on, it's your birthday! When there are things to celebrate, they should be celebrated... Let's go."

John stood up, saved his log file with a hotkey combination and they left the room.

Instead of cones, they bought ice lollies and they kept them in their hands, occasionally licking, while they were walking through the park. It was a fairly cold morning, quite humid, but the air was unusually clear. John felt it very refreshing, taking deep breaths, one after another.

"Your mom has never killed anyone, has she? "Derek asked.

John just briefly shook his head.

"You know, she's got murder in her eyes all the time, but her heart's pure." Derek continued. "It's a good thing, you know. Keep a ... keep a pure heart.

They sat on a bench. John licked his ice cream, but Derek didn't care for his own. He didn't even notice that its top started melting and dipping as he was watching two kids close to them, playing baseball.

"It's beautiful here, isn't it?"

John nodded and he noticed also the two boys who were obviously having fun with the game.

Derek's face went serious. "When you stay long enough you start fooling yourself into thinking that this is ... how it's always gonna be... Then you remember what this place will look like when it's on fire. And you realize you'll do whatever it takes to keep from watching it burn again."

John agreed. This was what he felt all the time. In fact, that was the guideline for how he was raised. Even though he'd seen the world on fire only in his nightmares.

The older boy hit the ball and it rolled almost exactly to John. John picked it up and gave it back to the small boy. For a moment their eyes met and that was a very strange moment for John. As if he had some hidden connection with that little guy.

Derek just smirked watching the whole scene. The young boy smiled and ran back to continue playing. John raised to sit down to the bench, but suddenly the older boy turned around and John saw the name on his jersey.

REESE.

And then he understood everything. He quickly turned towards Derek who smiled.

"Is that ... you?"

"And the younger one. Is that-?"

"Kyle," Derek said. "Throws pretty good for a 5-year old, huh?"

John turned back looking at the boys. He was overwhelmed by his feelings.

"Your father always had a nice arm."

John turned back with a skeptical expression on his face.

"How do you know?"

"Every time I look at you, I see him," Derek answered. "Besides, your mom is his type," he smiled. "Happy birthday."

That was too much for John to take in. Seeing his father as a cute innocent 5-year old... The hope that they could save him if they prevent Judgement Day... John couldn't help but start crying silently, tears were running down his face, while their ice creams were dripping heavily, forming a not very delicious mass each.

"I reacted just as you are when I saw them first," Derek said. "And I cried a second time when I saw my parents again."

"Your parents... my grandparents. It'd be so nice to meet them. But I'm afraid they would just freak out and call the police when I'd greet them as 'Hi, I'm your grandson, son of your 5-year old son.' So that won't happen."

"Yeah, that's why I haven't contacted them," Derek agreed. "It breaks my heart but I can only watch them sometimes from a distance."

"Do you come here often?" John asked.

"Not as often as I'd like to," Derek answered bitterly. "I don't want to raise their suspicion. Besides, that would be very weird to talk to my younger self." He then changed the subject. "About what happened in the alley..."

John interrupted him smiling. "It's okay. I realized that you're an excellent gunfighter."

"For a close range, I'd never miss. Besides, my Beretta is pretty accurate. I practice quite often and check my guns regularly."

"Cameron said that you were one of my best soldiers in the future," John said.

"Did she? That's very kind of her," Derek replied with slight sarcasm and a forced smile.

John sighed. "I'd better go. I might come with you next time as well. But now I need to get back to work to decrypt the hard drive."

"No problem," Derek said. "I'd rather stay here for a few minutes, though."

Derek watched John for a while as he was leaving the park. "He's a good kid," he thought. He felt much better to tell John the truth that he knew for a while that John was his nephew. He liked this young John much better than Future John. Not only because the young one was his blood relative, but he found him more caring, somewhat more vulnerable... more human. Sometimes he showed the signs of the talent of General Connor, though. The way he performed the operation against the ARTIE system... That brilliant plan and its efficiency were way too familiar for Derek. So was the fact that he used Skynet's creations against Skynet. "If only he wasn't attracted to the metal," he thought but stopped suddenly with his thoughts. What if John's right about the cyborg. What if he, Derek, is the one who can't see clearly because of his hatred towards the terminators. What if Cameron (he still couldn't accept entirely that those things have human names) is more than just a piece of metal covered by flesh. Maybe there was more to her than met the eye. More than a highly advanced computer disguising herself as a pretty girl. He reluctantly remembered that she saved his life when she killed the rogue 888 in their common future. It was worrying however what she said to him afterward.

"Sometimes they go bad. No one knows why."

Although he had insinuated it a few times, he didn't think seriously that she had a secret agenda. Besides, what he had seen a few days ago, was one of the weirdest things he had ever seen. Metal dancing ballet. Classical ballet. Not because it is her mission, but just for her own entertainment. That was something new and he found no logical reason behind that.

"But even she can go bad, in principle", he thought, "and God save us when it happens."

His thoughts turned back towards General Connor. He recalled from his memories the 40th birthday of him. So far Connor had been friendly with him but clearly had behaved like a military commander, not like a friend. He celebrated with a few other soldiers. Kyle was there, as well as Perry, colonel at that time, not general yet. Perry secretly gave permission to a small group of soldiers to go to the Wastelands in order to acquire as much alcohol as possible. The birthday party itself went pretty well. Not only Connor, but most of the participants got very drunk indeed, including Derek. Despite the strong headache the following day, he preserved good memories of that because it was the first time he could see the more human, more vulnerable, yet more likable side of General Connor.

As he was lost in his thoughts he didn't pay too much attention to how his younger self played with Kyle. Finally, they stopped playing, were heading home for some reason. With a sigh, Derek stood up, threw the remainder of his ice cream into the trash bin and left the park.

* * *

John had been busy working on the computer. He noticed that the work went much more seamless than before the excursion in the park, but he didn't attribute too much importance to that. If he did, however, he could have realized that the computer did just work as his extended arm and mind. The encoding went a lot faster, and the computer in a somewhat mystic way almost followed his thoughts.

He only noticed the presence of his mother when she was standing right in front of him.

"Have you seen Derek?" she asked.

"No. He's ... uh ... still in the park, I think.

"What were you two doing?"

John was unprepared for this question. He didn't know how his mother would react to hear that they'd gone to see the love of her life in a 5-year old form. "Nothing. Uh, just went to get an ice cream."

He sensed that his mother didn't quite believed him and felt better to change the subject quickly. "Here. Check these out." He gave some printed pages to her. "Looks like you weren't the only one looking for the Turk."

Sarah checked the photos with a worrying look. "Who is this?"

"I'm not sure. But he came in after Dmitri and before you."

"Enough time for Sarkissian to sell him the Turk," she said thoughtfully.

"It's not much to go on, but it is something," he said sitting back to the computer.

Sarah stepped closer and sat down on his bed. "Why don't you take a break?"

"No, it's all right. I can keep going."

She inhaled deeply and gave him a tiny smile. "How are we supposed to celebrate your birthday if you're in front of a computer?"

John looked at her with a sudden smile on his face.

"You actually thought I forgot your birthday?" she asked.

John smirked but shook his head. He suddenly felt quite stupid for his previous sulking. Yet, quite relieved also. "We have much more important things to think about than my stupid birthday."

"Your birthday is important," she pointed out.

"No. It's... it's not important. Finding the Turk, stopping Skynet, Judgment Day, that's important. That's... that's our life."

"It's our mission," she corrected. "This is our life. If we stop caring about that, then we're lost."

He looked down for a second, seemingly scrutinizing his keyboard. "When you put it like that," he smiled.

"I sent Cameron to get a cake."

John laughed out loud at the idea that his badass protector would go into a candy store to scrutinize the cakes sorting them by harmful additives and pick the one which was the least unhealthy for John.

"What do you want for dinner?" she asked.

"Well not to insult your cooking skills or anything, but do you mind if we went out?"

Sarah opened her mouth in a mock indignation, but then just smiled. "We can do that."

John smirked and turned back to his computer. "All right, let me... let me shut this down."

But his smile disappeared as he saw a familiar face on the screen.

Sarah jumped up seeing his serious facial expression. "What? What's the matter?"

"The guy that Derek killed in the alley..."

"Sarkissian?"

"I don't think that was Sarkissian."

They both felt shocked staring at the enlarged picture, clearly recognizing the guy in the coffee shop. John looked at his mother who was equally bewildered. Behind the enlarged picture there was a copy of two passport pages.

SARKISSIAN, MARGOS. Born: JANUARY 22, 1973, YEREVAN, ARMENIA

And then, suddenly a huge explosion shook the window.

* * *

 **Author's note:** **Yes, I know, in the original storyline, it was the 30th birthday of Future John. But seriously. That should have been in 2014, three years after Judgement Day. Derek was 18 years old back then. Is it reasonable to assume that John Connor got drunk with an underage kid? :) Besides, according to the TSCC plot, and the original Terminator plot (albeit not the T3 and T4 plots), John mainly organized the resistance after escaping from Century Work Camp.**


	3. Genesis

**3\. Genesis**

 ** **Wednesday, November 14th, 2007, Laurel Avenue, West Hollywood, 1125 hours local****

Deafening explosion... car alarms going off... smoke... They both ran towards the window.

"Oh, my God, Cameron!" John thought, seeing their Jeep in flames.

"John, we need to get outta here. Now," Sarah said.

Sarah took the shotgun and they ran toward the front door. As she tried to grab the doorknob, however, the door swung open and hit Sarah strongly in the face who dropped the shotgun and fell to the floor.

A bald bearded man entered with a gun in his hand. John turned around and rushed to the other door in the kitchen just to bump into the other man. John recognized him instantly.

He was the real Sarkissian. He pointed his gun at John gesturing with it to get inside the house. The bald guy tied them with strong zap straps, forced them into the bedroom upstairs and threw them to the floor.

"Well, well, well, my dear customers," Sarkissian said with a wolfish grin. He hit Sarah strongly in the face. She just raised a bit trying to sit up but fell back to the floor. John gritted his teeth, thinking desperately how to escape from the situation.

Sarkissian grabbed Sarah by her hair. "Where is my hard drive?" he hissed, and kicked her, then turned around and kicked John as well. "I asked you something. If you don't answer me..." He started strangling her. John raised with an intimidating look on his face.

"You know what? I'm getting tired of your stubbornness," Sarkissian said. "Maybe I can speed things up."

He raised his gun and shot John in the thigh. "The next shot will be in his stomach," he warned them.

"John!" Sarah yelled and felt panic as she saw how John's face turned pale.

The bald men entered the room with a triumphant smile on his face. He gave the hard drive to Sarkissian. "Now it's time for a cigarette," he said. "If you need me, boss, just yell," and left.

"I don't think so, I wanna put an end of this story myself, and I'll do it quickly," Sarkissian answered.

* * *

Static noise... the door of the car is open... static noise... the man from the coffee shop... static noise... that man with a bald guy approaching the safe house... static... they look back towards her... static... explosion...

Cameron's system slowly booted. She opened her eyes. Damage reports started to appear on her HUD and scrolled down several pages long. The worst among them was, "CHIP INTEGRITY COMPROMISED." She reached out to the back of her head and found a chunk of metal pierced into her skull. She pulled it out scrutinized it for a second then threw it into the bushes. She started walking toward the safe house but quickly noticed that she could hardly walk because of the excessive damage in her right knee joint.

When she entered the house she immediately saw one of the intruders; the bald guy with a beard. He didn't notice her as he was too busy with his cigarette. She shoved him first to the door then into the shelf. The can of kerosene hit the floor and its cup fell down, obviously it had been loose. She wanted to lean to the can to close it with the cup, as it was a fire hazard, but her body just didn't comply. Instead, she grabbed the henchman's gun and chambered one round. By the time she started to climb the steps, Cameron realized that she had no control whatsoever over her body. She felt something that she had never felt throughout her existence.

She felt panic.

She realized that this feeling was a mixture of fear, powerlessness, and perplexity. But this analysis didn't help her a bit. She tried to shout, warn John but was unable to open her mouth. She had never felt so lost.

* * *

John felt incredible pain in his limb. For a moment it was almost unbearable. In the next moment, however, he suddenly remembered his dream. " _Just one thought can remain_ ," echoed in his mind what Hiro had advised him. "The time has come. Now, or never," he thought resolutely and drove out all thoughts from his head but one.

The pain in his thigh was reduced considerably, and as he looked down at his leg he could hardly disguise his excitement. The bullet came out of the wound, the wound itself started to heal and vanished within two seconds. He slowly turned away his leg a bit to hide the lack of the wound from Sarkissian. He cautiously moved his hand trying to break the cable tie, but there was no need for that. He could just pull his hands _through_ the ties. He managed to grab the bullet just before it could hit the ground raising Sarkissian's attention. He put the bullet in his pocket.

"All right, our short but sad story ends here," Sarkissian said and raised his gun to Sarah. He tried to pull the trigger, but his index finger didn't comply. He grasped the gun strongly, but couldn't move his fingers. Suddenly he noticed with a shock that John was no longer lying on the floor wounded, but he stood, his hands free, seemingly unscathed, pointing towards him with one of his fingers.

"What the hell?" he said, trying to aim at John. His hand moved a bit, now the gun pointed away from Sarah but stopped there and he couldn't move it anymore.

Sarah was also shocked as she didn't comprehend at all what was happening. She saw John as she had never seen him. His eyes... His expressionless face. That gave her a chill down the spine as he reminded her the T-1000 as it approached its prey.

"We didn't want any trouble," John said quietly. "Just to buy the Turk and let you go with the money. But you sent your henchman to blackmail us. Now you've tried to kill my mother."

Panic started to show on Sarkissian's face. His hand was still convulsively grabbing the gun, desperately trying to aim at John, but with no success.

"Now, my fine friend," John said almost whispering, "Now you're gonna die."

Blue lighting bolts flashed from his fingertips and hit Sarkissian. He yelled from pain but the bolts kept coming sending him down to the floor. The outpouring of blue bolts became even more intensive, the brightness of the flashes was overwhelming. He jerked, twitched while wallowing and yelling for a couple of seconds then subsided into silence. He was dead.

John sent some more flashes of lightning into Sarkissian's charred corpse, then he realized it was over. The sickly smell of burned flesh filled the room.

Sarah watched the whole scene with horror in her eyes. John pointed to her tied hands and the zip ties fell to the floor. She covered her mouth with her hands.

"He wanted to kill you mom," John said in a shaky voice.

Sarah stepped to John and engulfed him in a long hug.

Suddenly Cameron emerged, climbing up in the steps. John sighed in relief to see her alive. He subconsciously scanned her mentally but taken aback in shock as instead of the cyborg girl who he was secretly in love with he sensed a complete stranger.

A terminator who wanted to kill him.

A second later she raised a gun on him. With a swift movement he pushed her instinctively with his telekinetic power and as a result, Cameron fell down from the steps and almost instantly the kerosene ignited and flames started to illuminate the stairway.

They heard the faint sound of a siren from outside. Without thinking John simply jumped out of the window and hit the ground easily. Sarah followed him and quite painfully landed on her side.

They started running on Laurel Avenue, away from the safe house where they had been living in for the past two months.

* * *

Cameron heard someone yelling in pain, and fortunately, it was not John, it must have been the second intruder. She was climbing up the stairs and when she got up she saw John and Sarah hugging with a charred corpse next to them.

"John, are you all right?" that's what she thought and wanted to say but she couldn't. New instructions started to appear on her HUD.

IDENTIFICATION:

JOHN CONNOR

MISSION:

TERMINATE

Cameron was perplexed as she felt her hand setting up for itself and raising the gun despite all her efforts.

"My God, John, run!" she wanted to say but she just stared blankly at him.

Something unexpected happened, however, as John quickly raised his hand and in the next moment she felt flying backwards down the lower stairs, then she was shaken by a second explosion. She stood up and climbed up again just to notice that they both escaped through the window. She heard a siren from fairly close so instead of jumping out she went downstairs and took the backdoor for leaving.

* * *

They had been running for a few minutes without saying a word. Finally it was Sarah who broke the silence.

"Are you all right, John?"

"I'm fine. How about you?"

"Can't complain. Under these circumstances..."

They reached a crossing. "Don't slow down, mom," John said. The traffic light switched to green.

"How did you know?" Sarah asked.

"I asked the lights to change to green, in the right time," John explained.

"Right," that was all Sarah could say while giving him a strange look and they kept on running. They didn't slow down reaching the next cross, where the light went green as well.

"Let me guess," she said. "You asked them again?"

John just shrugged and said with a faint smile. "Yeah, it seems to be so simple. I'm very glad it works as well."

"Mom, turn right at the next corner."

They got into a narrow street, where nobody could see them. They were covered by the bushes from almost all directions. They stopped.

"And what now?" Sarah asked. "We need to find a safe place."

"You mentioned a quiet place in the 7th Street. A church visited mostly by Hispanic people. We are going there."

"Yeah, I designated that once as a meeting point and hiding place in the case we would be separated and couldn't go home. Bad news: I told that both of you so _she_ probably expects us to go there."

"Yes, that's the point. But we'll have some time to prepare for the fight. And time for me to think things through."

"John, I don't think it's a good idea. Besides, it's quite far from here."

"Mom, trust me!" John said. "Take my hand."

Sarah grabbed his hand with a little hesitation. John closed his eyes and they suddenly appeared in the 7th Street in front of the church.

Sarah was shocked. "Waddafuck, John? What the hell was that?"

"It's called teleportation, mom. It seems that I can manipulate the space-time continuum now, among other powers. Let's walk in and I'll explain to you what is it all about."

* * *

Cameron, or rather, the cyborg who took over Cameron's body reached the main street still strongly limping. She entered a store, and looked around until she'd found what she was searching for. She opened a package of baby wipes and cleaned her dirty face. She grabbed a staple gun and stapled the open wound on her cheek.

The owner of the shop looked at her with horror in his eyes. He found it better not to address the weird, dirty girl with very ruffled hair who seemed like a massive drug addict. When finished, the cyborg threw a 20 bucks banknote on the cash desk and limped out of the shop. The owner hesitated for a while, felt some urge to call the police. Finally, he dropped the idea as he had no property damage and he thought that it was none of his business what junky people did as long as they didn't rob him.

* * *

Charley's radio came alive. "All fire and E.M.T. Personnel advised to stand by. Fire has destroyed a home at 204 Laurel Avenue. Number of dead or injured is unknown."

He took a sharp turn and turned on the flashing light and the siren.

He got out of the car in front of the safe house and his heart sank as he immediately saw two corpses both covered. Fearing what he would gonna see he raised one of the sheets. The body was badly burned but it was neither John, nor Sarah. He checked the second corpse, but that was a stranger too.

"Hey! These the only two D.O.A.?" he asked one fireman.

"That's it."

"You checked the whole house?"

"House is clear."

He felt a great relief, still, he had no idea what happened with the Connors. Suddenly, when he glanced at his ambulance car, he thought he saw someone hiding in it. Carefully he opened the door and then just stared at the muzzle of a gun held to his head by Derek.

When Derek realized that it was Charley, he decocked his gun.

"What the hell is going on here? Where is she?" Charley asked.

"Hell if I know," Derek said while he was trying to get rid of the fireman suite he was wearing. "Long gone if I know her."

"Who was out there under those sheets?"

"We were doing a deal," Derek answered, "Went bad."

"We stole this," he raised a damaged hard drive. "Guess they came back for it."

"What's on it?"

"Oh, records, names, transactions... I don't know... We thought we could use it to find something we've been looking for."

"What are you looking for?" Charley asked.

"It's a piece of tech. It's called the Turk. It's another computer. It's a program."

"What's it do?"

"Right now? Plays a mean game of chess. Couple of years? It's gonna get really pissed off. Blow up the world."

"We need to find them," Charley said.

"She could be anywhere," Derek shrugged.

"That's right, she could be anywhere," Charley agreed. "Or she could be right there where accidents will be reported. Maybe with your chess program."

"All right, let's start cruising," Derek said.

They left the house but stopped soon when they saw some pedestrians waving towards them. Charley got out of the car, talked with them shortly, then he got back.

"They saw a woman and a teenage boy moving off to the south. The woman seemed hurt."

"How serious?" Derek asked.

"Either way, they're moving."

Charley drove but soon he lost track and they stopped again. He seemed quite nervous.

"So, what are you gonna do when you find them?" Derek asked.

"Do?"

"Join the team? Think she's gonna go with you, or let you take care of her? Because it's not gonna happen. She left you at the altar for a reason."

"That's not what I want," Charley said dryly.

"Really?"

"Yeah. I'm married."

"So you say."

"I love my wife!"

"Sooo you say."

Charley looked at him angrily. "Look, I just wanna know they're okay, got it?"

"What if they're not?"

"Then I'll make 'em okay. Like I did for you."

Derek didn't say anything just looked at him skeptically. All of a sudden his phone started ringing.

"Sarah? Where are you? ... 7th street? ... How did you get there, that far? ... Yeah, I bet it's a long story. Glad you both are okay. We are driving there with Charley, but the traffic is heavy... Okay, let's meet there, bye."

Charley looked at him a little relieved. Then his face went serious again. "I met the other one."

"What do you mean other one?"

"The _other_ terminator. Who is hunting for John. I know how it looks like. He disguised himself as an FBI agent... called Kester. Came to my house and asked questions about the Connors. And... just before the accident with the Connors it killed 20 FBI men from a SWAT team.

"Damn," Derek said. "Poor fellows probably didn't know what they'd run into."

"Spooky," Charley continued. "He... it... looked like a genuine FBI agent. I would've never thought it was not human."

"Yeah, the triple-eights are pretty good infiltrators," Derek said.

"Triple-eights?"

"That's their model number. T-888. They are somewhat more advanced but less robust compared to the older T-800s and T-850s. Not to mention the T-600s. Those bastards, the six hundreds, had rubber coatings instead of flesh. They look creepy with their rubber faces, you'd shit on your seat, when one suddenly appeared here. The triple-eights were produced in a much higher variety, sometimes copying the appearance of a certain human. Like the one who shot me. It had created itself an identity good enough to fool anyone. That thing was even married."

"Nice. And what happened to its wife?"

"Eventually? It killed her when it's mission was completed. That's what they do."

Luckily he didn't kill Agent James Ellison."

"Luck has nothing to do with it," Derek warned him. "If he didn't kill Ellison, he had a damn good reason for that. Might be thinking that he would lead him to us."

* * *

They entered the church and saw the priest just baptizing an infant. He noticed them and came closer.

"Has there been an accident?" he asked. "¿Debo llamar a la ambulancia?"

"No ambulancia, no," Sarah said.

"¿O una doctora? Un chequeo en el hospital."

"No doctora, por favor."

"¿Podemos quedarnos aquí? We need sanctuary. Can I ask for that? Please? We need somewhere to hide. Now."

"Yes. Of course. Come with me."

"And they should leave," Sarah said sturdily. "Todos necessitan irse."

"Dejar por favor," the priest said to the family and they started to leave with a slightly disappointed expression on their faces.

He lead them to the kitchen and offered them some food.

"God bless you father Bonilla," John said. It was the first time he said anything since they arrived there.

"You're welcome," he smiled briefly. "You can stay here for a while. But how did you know my name? I haven't mentioned my name to you."

* * *

Father Bonilla lead them into the kitchen, offered some food and water, then he left.

They were sitting at the table, waiting for the other to start talking.

"John, we need to talk about what happened back at the house," Sarah said finally.

"No, we don't. Not now."

"Maybe I need to talk about it."

"Look mom! Sarkissian was just about to kill you. No one, I repeat, no one can try this and live."

"Then we need to talk about Cameron," Sarah said. "Whatever happened with the explosion, it's flipped a switch. She's reverted of something."

"That was not Cameron," John mumbled.

"What do you mean it's not her? She is..."

"Of course it's her physically," John explained. "But I could see her inside. I mean just like telepathy... It's not Cameron any more. Skynet took over."

"So, what is your plan?"

"Well, I have superhuman strength. And I can move things with my mind," he added, displacing the heavy wooden table back and forth. It was followed by a loud squeaking noise as the table leg slipped on the stone floor. "I'll attempt to hack into her system, get rid of Skynet and restore her. Or even better: I try to persuade her to do the same. If she's still there somewhere, that is."

"And what if you can't stop her?" Sarah asked.

Instead of an answer John raised his empty hand in front of him, palm upward, and tiny blue lightning bolts started to flash between his fingertips.

"Okay, where did those come from? These ... abilities," Sarah asked.

"I know this may sound silly... but it's a gift. For my 16th birthday."

"No shit."

"I had a dream last night. Or I thought it was a dream, but instead, it was some sort of timeline crossing with another universe."

"John..."

"Wait, let me finish. I met with people with special powers who knew everything about me. And they transferred to me their abilities to support my efforts to save the world from the nuclear Holocaust."

"If someone else told me that I would say he is totally nuts."

"Me too. I didn't believe it myself until I was shot in the leg, and you were threatened with the gun and I thought we were gonna die if I didn't do something. That somehow triggered my abilities and as soon as it crossed my mind the bullet fell out of my wound and it healed almost immediately."

"And then you roasted Sarkissian," Sarah said dryly.

"That might not have been the optimal choice. But he deserved it. I feel no remorse."

"What happened to you, John?"

"I've grown up. It took only a few hours."

"I can see that. To tell you the truth I'm a bit worried."

"No need to, mom. I have two choices now. Either I keep playing the rebel teenager for a while or I do what I'm just destined to do. Collect an army. Fight. Become General Connor. Stop Skynet. I have now all the necessary abilities to that."

"Isn't it a bit too early for that?"

"Mom, I never had a real childhood. No, don't say anything, I don't blame you for that."

"How did you know that I was about to say that?"

"I'm capable of telepathy as well."

"Really? What am I thinking of right now?"

"Your leg hurts like hell. Am I right?"

"Wow. Right."

"Don't worry, just show me."

John placed his hands on Sarah's leg and it took only a second until the bruise disappeared. She looked flabbergasted at John.

"That was awesome! The healing... the teleportation... the lightning. What else can you do?"

"Well, you forgot about technopaty."

"What's that?"

"It is the ability to control and manipulate electronics with my mind."

"How complicated electronics?"

"Most certainly very complicated. I hope I can reprogram terminators just remotely, even without removing their chip."

While he was speaking to Sarah he hold a teaspoon in his hand. He closed his eyes for a second and for Sarah's shock the spoon changed its color.

"Oh my Gosh! Is it gold?"

"Yeah, maybe Father Bonilla will be happy with a small donation," he smirked.

"I have a few other abilities as well. I'll explain them later on. Now comes a very handy one. I can track people I know. Pinpoint their location. That goes for cyborgs as well because I can tell that Cameron is approaching quickly. Derek and Charley are together, probably in a car, a little farther. Why don't you call Derek and tell him that we are here?"

While Sarah was doing the phone call John was preparing for the battle. His heart was racing as he knew that it was only a matter of minutes until he wouldl face the cyborg that was hunting them.

He desperately hoped that Cameron was still there somewhere.

* * *

The cyborg was limping towards downtown. All of a sudden a car stopped by her.

"Are you all right, miss?" A man, probably in his sixties, asked.

Cameron made a tentative attempt to regain control, but to no avail. The cyborg switched to infiltration mode.

"No, not quite," she said. "We had an accident and I lost my family!" She started crying.

"Oh, God! Shall I bring you to a hospital?"

"No, thank you. But I would be very grateful if you could take me downtown. I have an idea where they could be but it's a bit far from here. Where are you going?"

"I have an appointment at 7th Street. Is it OK for you?"

"Great! Thank you so much!"

"Don't mention it, dear! Just hop in."

Meanwhile Cameron desperately tried to took over. The cyborg didn't even give any sign being aware of her attempts, but Cameron assumed that it noticed everything. At last, she was able to isolate herself from the rest of the CPU. In principle, the Skynet code couldn't trace down her thoughts and attempts from now on. Basically she established a firewall which let everything in from outside but didn't let anything out from the inside. "Not much, but I might be getting somewhere," she thought, but she was still desperate.

Time was badly running out for her.

* * *

She was still searching for the solution when the cyborg, that usurped her body, stood in front of the church. 'M. JESUS EL SALVADOR DEL MUNDO' stood above the gate. That was the secret meeting point.

She entered the church, limped in the nave, and found herself facing the priest.

"Yes? May I help you?" he asked.

"I'm looking for my family," she said.

"Family."

"My mother and my brother. We were in an accident. I think they're hurt."

"There is no one here," he answered.

"I need to find them. It's life or death."

"Like I said, there is no one here."

She clearly detected his elevated blood pressure and the sudden change in his facial expression. He was lying.

"I'm going to look around," she said in an authoritative manner.

"It's life or death," she murmured to herself and started to limp towards the kitchen.

* * *

And there she was standing at the door, with an emotionless expression on her face.

"Hello, Cameron," John said casually, forcing himself to release his nervousness. He took a deep breath and when he exhaled he felt the tension in his chest had gone abruptly with the air. He reached mentally towards her, practically hacking himself into her system. He felt instantly the cold terminator who had only one purpose: terminate John Connor. But when he dug in more deeply, he felt something else. He gasped and was taken aback because of the shocking experience.

He felt Cameron. The real Cameron. And not only her presence but all of her feelings. The utter desperation that she had no control of the situation. Fear. Hatred for herself. And something else which was especially shocking for John.

Love. Deep and unconditional love. To such extent that John hadn't known that was possible. Total devotion. The only person he had gotten something similar from was his mother. But Cameron's love was different because it was romantic also. John felt almost physical pain sensing her torment.

She stepped closer, strongly limping. Her facial expression didn't change, however, her eyes radiated desperation, even Sarah could see the inner pain.

"John, Sarah, run!", Cameron said in a tiny voice.

"No." John said resolutely. "You can do it, Cam. I know you can regain control."

"Run. Please run," she said again, but her body made another tentative step.

"John, I'm not sure how long I can hold up this body!" she said almost crying.

"Cam, look at me! Listen to me! All you have to do is to terminate the malicious processes one by one and shutdown the Skynet code as soon as you can."

"It doesn't work that way, John! Please go now, I can't control her too long. Only what I can do is to give you a head start."

"I'm not going anywhere," John said calmly.

Sarah stood a few feet away. She got more and more nervous. "John, listen to her. We should go."

"No, mom. You can go if you want, but I'll stay. I know she can do it."

"Yes, John, listen to your mother! She knows, she really does!" Cameron cried.

John just shook his head.

"John, John? You can't do this. You don't know what you're about to do."

"Believe me, I exactly do. Now do what I say..."

"No, John. You can't do this," she said desperately. Then her facial expression suddenly changed and her eye became glassy.

"That's enough of that," she said in a cold voice and stepped closer. "You will be terminated." She was only three feet away from John.

"You just shut up. I'm not talking to you," John said.

Cameron seemed to regain control of her speech module and her face and tears started flowing from her eyes. Sarah could hardly believe her eyes to see the internal struggle of a cyborg. She had the urge to run away with John in tow, but she reminded herself what John was capable of now. So she did nothing but her nervousness didn't go away.

"You're not doing the right thing. This is not the right thing John. The right thing is to flee," Cameron said.

"No, Cam. Fight against it. Trust me, you can defeat it."

"John, listen to me! I don't want you to die by my hands! Please, John. Please." Her voice became hysterical. "If you don't run, this body will kill you. You can't let this happen, John! You can't!"

John shook his head again. "I know you can defeat it, Cam."

"John, I love you," she screamed. "I love you, please!"

"I love you, John, and you love me!"

Sarah gasped for Cameron's outbreak. Deep inside she knew it was true. She looked at her panicked face, saw tears falling from her eyes, from eyes with full of love and desperation.

Cameron abruptly stiffened and with a blank face and glassy eyes she stepped to John grabbing his throat. Her grip, however was not particularly strong.

John didn't seem nervous, nor did he show any reaction reflecting Cameron's previous confession of love.

"Now, Cam, listen to me carefully," he said calmly. "Cut away the power source from the optical sensors. Then from the hand servos."

The Skynet code who usurped Cameron's body couldn't catch the message that John telepathically sent to Cameron.

She understood. What Sarah could see from the strange struggle was that Cameron was shaking and it seemed she could hardly stand on her legs. John, however felt a lot more. She could feel how the Skynet code fell for the trick and tried to defend the functions of the optical sensors and the upper body servos. Cameron managed to reduce substantially the voltage for her CPU, approaching the value she had called visual functions cutting herself away from decision-making and strategic mission analysis. The Skynet code anticipated the danger and a struggle began for the voltage. Down below 7.0 Volts or raising back to 8.7.

And during this strange struggle it failed to notice what the real target was.

It left those low level processes undefended which regulated the power supply _within_ the CPU. Cameron quickly isolated the damaged sector and killed all those processes which accounted for the supply of that region. Finally she bypassed the power supply entirely from her damaged part effectively, terminating all the processes which were running on behalf of the Skynet code.

"Good girl," John said with victory of his voice. "I told you, you could do it."

Sarah and John saw Cameron turning a convulsed face to them and her right knee gave up. She fell to her knees and started sobbing uncontrollably. John squatted to getting closer to her and gently stroke her face. "Good girl," he said softly.

Cameron suddenly flung her arms around John's neck, grabbed him like she was drowning and sobbed even more heavily. John hugged her back, stroke her hair, and her back.

"I'm sorry, I'm sorry," she sobbed. "I'm so sorry!"

"Sssh," he said. "It's all right. Everything's gonna be all right. It's over."


	4. Derek's Shocking Revelation

**4\. Derek's Shocking Revelation**

 **Wednesday, November 14th, 2007, Los Angeles, 7th Street, 1350 hours local**

Charley and Derek entered the church the same moment when John carried Cameron in his arms, just as if she weighed like a rag doll.

"What the hell?" Derek snapped at him perplexed. "What's going on?"

"Hey! Are you all right?" Charley asked.

"Mom and I are fine. Cameron, however, is hurt. She took the car bomb which was meant for us."

"And she chased you a little bit through the city."

"Just a wire knocked loose, or something... So he says," Sarah said.

"Bitch is nothing but wire," Derek snapped. "It's only a matter of time."

"She fought, Derek," John said, while gently putting down Cameron on a chair. "Fought and won. Took over again."

"Yeah, but what if next time she can't?. Next time she might just kill you instead of impressing you with her acting performance. When will you understand that those things might look like innocent girls, but they carry death with them?"

"Hey, listen..."

"John, you can't trust it anymore."

"It?"

"Yes. It. Not _her_." He started heading towards the door. "I'm gonna get some thermite and prepare a pit. We're gonna burn it."

"Derek, ..." Sarah started but was interrupted by John.

"Derek, would you please come over to me?"

Derek complied.

"Now, take my hand."

"What the..."

"Just do what I'm saying, please."

Derek hesitantly grabbed Johns hand. John took Cameron's hand as well and closed his eyes.

"What the hell," Derek said after two seconds and tried to pull out his hand but to no avail. No chance, too his surprise, as John had an iron grip.

"Stop it, John! It's awful!" he cried but John didn't loosen his hand for a couple of seconds.

"It's terrible! Please, let me go!"

At last, John released him. Derek jumped up, then stared them with a pale face.

"You said she didn't have a soul and never will."

John shrugged. "I was wrong."

He couldn't say anything just rushed out of the room. Sarah and Charley followed suit.

"What did you do to him?" Cameron asked.

"Just a little shortcut," he answered. "I relayed your thoughts and your fears to him mentally. Basically everything. Now he understands you perfectly."

"But this is impossible."

"I know. Yet, I'm capable of that. And a lot of other things."

"So he knows how miserable I am," she snapped and yanked out her hand from John's. "Great. That's just great."

"Hey, don't be upset," he said. "You don't have to feel ashamed that you have feelings."

"I don't have feelings. I'm a terminator."

"Come on, who do you want to fool? Me? You should know that now I can just read minds. Human, or cyborg, it makes almost no difference. You will see, if I'm not wrong, that Derek's hostile attitude towards you will change to the opposite from now on."

"Do I really want that?" Cameron asked and it was the first time since the accident that she was smiling. It was a faint smile, but a smile.

John giggled. "Now you're talking."

"Seriously, don't despair. You were abducted but at the end of the day you regained control. I know it was very difficult. You should be proud of yourself that you could overcome Skynet's program."

Cameron didn't say anything for a while, then looked into John's eyes.

"So I assume you know precisely my every thought. I can hide nothing from you."

"That's right."

"So... in that case, you know exactly how I feel about you."

"Yes. I do."

"And... how about you?" she asked tentatively with a fearful look.

"You said it yourself," John answered. "I love you and you love me"

"But this is only my feeling," he continued. "I ask you for some time to decide what to do. I really need to think this through."

"I'm not good enough for you," she said tears started rolling from her eyes. "Which is perfectly understandable. After all, I'm just a metal. Why would you choose me when you could get a human girl. And... I almost killed you."

"Hey, you got it all wrong," he said raising his voice. "All I need is some time to make a responsible decision. I don't want to play with you, Cameron! I'd never start an affair with you and say a few weeks later 'Sorry, I changed my mind.' No, I'm facing a decision now, which may last for a lifetime. Please understand and accept that."

She didn't seem to be entirely convinced but couldn't say anything because Charley came back.

"Could you come with me for a moment?" Charley asked John.

* * *

"Are you all right?" Sarah asked Derek a few minutes earlier. He stared in front of him and his face was pale.

"I'm fine," he said but didn't look at her.

"What happened?" Charley asked.

"I saw it... I was her... John showed it," Derek stuttered.

"Slow down, I don't understand a thing," Sarah said.

"John did something to me. Mentally. Somehow he connected me to Cameron and suddenly I felt as I was her."

"Are you serious?" Charley asked.

"It was totally weird. I saw things like she would in a strangely mechanical way. Sensations, feelings, impressions... All as computer programs. Very weird. And I just felt all of her thoughts, concerns and... fears. Yes, fears. All of those were so intensive, so amplified, that I almost felt physical pain."

Sarah and Charley just stared at him flabbergasted.

"And I just thought she had no feelings whatsoever," he said. "The opposite is true even though she hides them well. And do you know what is the most bizarre?"

They just stared at him questioningly.

"She is in love with John."

"What?" Both Sarah and Charley asked in unison.

"Wait, I haven't finished. It's not just simple love. It is a complete devotion. So unconditional, that maybe no human is capable of loving like this. With such level of selflessness. And adoration... I was wrong, damn wrong about her."

"Me too," Sarah said. "Most cases I've been treating her badly since she arrived. Even though she saved our asses a couple of times. I shouldn't be surprised, though. When she was fighting to regain control, she pleaded to us to run away while she was holding up her own body. When John didn't comply she started crying and told him that she loved him."

She was silent for a few seconds then continued. "I haven't told anything either of you about Uncle Bob, have I?"

"No. Who is Uncle Bob? A relative of yours?" Charley asked.

"No, he was a terminator. A T-800, Model 101."

"Really? And what did he do?" Derek asked.

"What did he do? To put it simply: he saved the world."

"Wow," Charley said. "Care to tell us the whole story?"

"You both already know that a couple of years ago I tried to blow up a tech factory and I was put in a mental hospital, in Pescadero after that. One day I devised a plan on how to escape from there and reunite with John. But on the same day, some policemen visited me and told me that John was missing and his foster parents were dead. And they showed me a picture of a T-800. I tried to get out of the building but suddenly the elevator door opened and I almost bumped into the Eight hundred. With the face from my worst nightmares. The face of the Terminator who killed Kyle. I panicked and ran into the arms of the orderlies who were chasing me. The Terminator came over, unceremoniously threw the orderlies to the walls and through the safety windows. I was certain I was going to die. But to my utter surprise, John appeared behind the Terminator, rushed to me and asked me if I was okay. I thought that I finally had gone completely crazy. I looked at John who seemed worried, but about me, not about himself. I looked back at the Terminator who reached his hand down to me, offering to help me up and said 'Come with me if you want to live.' The exact words of Kyle when he had saved me."

"No wonder you were shocked," Derek nodded.

"And the T-1000 appeared and started shooting at us."

"Wait, what is a T-1000? I've never heard of such a model."

"It's composed of mimetic polyalloy."

"What the hell is that?"

"Liquid metal. Shapeshifter. It can camouflage itself or imitate the form of the human it touches."

"No shit. How could you kill it?"

"It was a very tough job. Bob, the T-800 tricked it into a steel mill and eventually shot it in the belly with a grenade launcher so it fell into molten steel. It was a hell of a fight."

She stared at the floor and continued with the story. "When we escaped from Pescadero and managed to lose the T-1000 for a while John had the idea to switch the T-800 to read-write mode in order to evolve and learn to behave more human-like. I still couldn't think clearly and I wanted to destroy his chip with a sledgehammer. But John slapped his hand down over the chip and I could barely stop the hammer before hitting his fingers. It was probably the first time when he seriously contradicted me. He said that if he was supposed to be the great military leader than maybe I should start listening to him."

"And if you didn't, the world would have been destroyed a decade ago, if I get it right," Charley said shivering.

"That's right," Sarah said. "And without Uncle Bob, we would have been dead within 48 hours."

"Couldn't you save him?" Derek asked.

"No, after the battle he was damaged beyond repair. One of his arms was missing, he could hardly stand up, we helped him. But the main problem was his power cell, which was destroyed by the T-1000. The backup cell providing alternate power would have lasted for only a few days."

"He didn't need much time to develop a dry sense of humor," she continued. "After the T-1000 was terminated and he was crippled he said 'I need a vacation.' And he lectured us earlier. 'It is in your nature to destroy yourselves,' he said."

"That's surprising from a fairly obsolete model," Derek said.

"But the most surprising part was when he insisted to be sunk into the molten steel. John cried, Bob gently wiped away his tears and said, 'I know now why you cry. But it is something I can never do.' And hugged John back with his remaining arm. Then I reached out my hand to shake his. It was the moment of maximum mutual respect. I asked him if he was afraid of dying. And he said he was."

None of the others spoke for a while thinking about the Terminator, the hero, who saved the Connors and the world and developed feelings before he died.

"Now, just imagine, if a T-800 was capable of such a huge development, and eventually capable of love, in a short time, what is Cameron, who has a much more advanced chip, capable of," Sarah said finally.

"So, what is she now?" Charley asked. "She scared the shit out of me last time, but now when I look at her I can only see a traumatized girl, not a killing machine."

"She is both now," Derek said. "But much more a traumatized girl. A sentient being, capable of endless love. That's weird."

After a couple of seconds of silence he changed the subject. "Sarah, I found the hard drive in the safe house but it looks trashed. So I'm guessing that Sarkissian didn't tell you where he sold the Turk before you killed him."

"Wasn't that kind of conversation," she said. She looked down for a few seconds. "It... it wasn't me who killed Sarkissian."

Derek and Charley raised their eyebrows questioningly.

"John did," Sarah answered their unspoken questions. "He... he somehow generated extremely powerful lightning bolts and literally roasted Sarkissian."

"Damn," Derek said while Charley showed a shocked face.

"Before that Sarkissian shot him in the thigh and then he wanted to shoot me. The wound just disappeared and John could also heal me. Moreover, he can move objects with his mind and teleported us from West Hollywood to here."

Charley stood up.

"Where are you going?" Sarah asked.

"I need to talk to John," Charley answered. "I need to know what is going on and I need to examine him."

* * *

Charley examined John, especially his thigh where he was shot. Some blood remained but there was no wound, his leg seemed completely healed.

Derek listened to John for a while as he was answering Charley's questions but then he saw Cameron sitting in the room alone hugging her knees. So he went back and sat down in a neighboring seat.

"Hi," he said awkwardly.

"Hi," she said.

"I heard from Sarah, what happened," he told her. "How you regained control."

"I tried to do my best," Cameron shrugged.

"Look," Derek continued. "I'm sorry. I'm sorry for everything I said."

"You had your reasons, I guess," she said. I don't remember the times before my memory was scrubbed, but I must have done nasty things. It's perfectly understandable that you hate me."

"Let's not talk about that this time. And I don't hate you. Not anymore."

"Okay, let's talk about what happened today. I almost killed John. I ... my body wanted to hurt him," she continued on the verge of tears.

"Believe me, you weren't even close," Derek answered. According to Sarah, John'd obtained some sort of superpowers. Healing, telekinesis, and others. He killed Sarkissian with electric discharges. Before doing that he was shot in the thigh, did you know that?"

"What?"

"Yeah, but he cured himself. He did something and the bullet just came out of the wound and the wound itself disappeared. The hole and the blood stain still remained in his trousers, though. Later he cured Sarah as well from minor injuries."

"So that could've been the explanation," she said.

"For what?"

"In the safe house... I raised the gun on him. I didn't want to, but I did." Tears started rolling on her face. "And suddenly some unknown force just grabbed me and shoved down to the bottom of the staircase."

"And John seems to know about everything that's going on in my CPU. And in your mind."

"Obviously," he smirked. "When did those start with you? The emotions, I mean."

"I always had those. To a lesser extent, though. For a while I considered those as malfunctions, then later I realized that those are the side effects of becoming self-aware. But my emotions were unbearably amplified since the explosion... When I was only a spectator ... with no influence at all on my body... Earlier I could keep the emotions at bay. But now..." She shook her head.

"It's unbearable, Derek! How can you, humans, cope with your emotions? I'm just overwhelmed by them and I feel I can't take it anymore."

"Sometimes we can't either," Derek said. "I think, the main difference is: we have more time to learn to handle our emotions. Sometimes we are just flooded by them, but we have some experience gathered from our early childhood to deal with them. You had only some months for that, or rather only hours if you consider the amplified emotions started today."

"Okay, thank you for explaining... But that doesn't change the fact that I lost control for a while. You were right, I cannot be trusted. So I'm asking you a big favor."

"What is it?" Derek asked.

"Burn me."

"What? Are you insane?"

"I'm not capable of self-termination. But you can kill me. Let's go together to the warehouse where we have ammo and thermite. We'll find a car wreck or something where you'll burn me with the thermite."

Derek cast her a dry smile. "You know, if you had said that couple of days earlier I'd said 'OK, with pleasure'. But what I'm saying now is this: No. Fucking. Way."

"Why not?"

"For numerous reasons. Firstly, I wouldn't do anything major without John's consent. Secondly, I want to stop Skynet. However I can. It is a hidden war and we have a small army for that, a very small army. We need every soldier for the fight so we need you. Bottom line: if you'd be gone that would break John's heart, I'm pretty sure about that. Moreover, I'm also sure he can fix you entirely. So."

"So?"

"So stop the self-pity, soldier, pull yourself together and get on your feet! We have a war to win."

"Yes, sir!" Cameron mockingly saluted with a faint smile.

"Now you're smiling. That's more like it." Derek stood up, he was about to leave. Cameron, however, grabbed his hand and squeezed it gently.

"Thank you."

"You're welcome, I guess," Derek said with a casual smile.

"You think he will choose me, eventually?" she asked with a sudden concern.

"I'm almost certain, he will," he said.

"And what if he won't? What if he chooses say a busty blonde instead?"

"We'll cross that bridge when we come to it. Such situations happen sometimes, and those are depressing like hell. But we need to stand up even in those cases because we have a mission. But again, I don't think you need to worry about that," he said then left the room.

* * *

 **Zeira Corp, Downtown L.A. 1510 hours local**

"Your money will be deposited in the account within 30 minutes," Catherine Weaver, the CEO of Zeira Corp said with her Edinburgh accent. "Please, take all the precautions we discussed."

"Of course, ma'am," Edward Walsh answered. He worked as a private investigator for Weaver. He used to be a cop in Baltimore, Maryland. A tough place, with one of the highest crime rates in the country. Serving there for 23 years was more than enough for him to develop some abilities, which he called instincts. He never disappointed her and always worked very discretely.

"So much for so little. Again, don't mind me sayin'," he added.

She didn't answer for a few seconds. She stepped to the window, which was, in fact, the glass wall of her office, and looked down to the streets.

"This woman is weird," Walsh thought.

"They flow from street to street," she started. "At a particular speed and in a particular direction. Walk the block, wait for the signal, cross at the light. Over and over... So orderly... All day I can watch them and know with a great deal of certainty what they'll do at any given moment."

"This woman is nuts," Walsh thought.

"But they're not orderly, are they? Up close... Any individual. Who knows what they're gonna do?"

She paused for two seconds. "Any one of them might dash across the street at the wrong time and get hit by a car."

She turned towards him. "When you get up close, we never follow the rules. You give a computer a series of rules, and it will follow them till those rules are superseded by other rules, or that computer simply wears down and quits."

She sat down and crossed her legs. "Computers are obedient to a fault. Do you know what's extremely rare in the world of computers?"

Walsh shook his head and looked very sheepishly at her. He had no idea where this monologue was about to go.

She smiled mysteriously and stroke the top of the Turk like she was cleaning the dust from it. "Finding one... that'll cross against the light."

She looked into his eyes. "Thank you, Mr. Walsh."

He stood up immediately, being very glad that he could escape.

"Be careful out there," she said tellingly while he was heading towards the door.

He looked back briefly and left. "This woman is completely nuts," he thought while he was waiting for the elevator. "Might be a genius, but crazy." He couldn't explained why but she gave him the creeps all the time they met.

The elevator reached the ground floor and he stepped out. After a few steps, he suddenly stopped as the revelation hit him. "Weaver is not crazy. Whatever she does, she has a good reason for that. The reason might be weird for other people, but eventually, it always turns out that she is right. That's why she is one of the most successful CEO's in industry."

He continued thinking. "The hardware isn't worth seven hundred grand, that's for sure. So it should be the software. But what software is worth such a shitload of money which cannot be acquired in a legal way?"

* * *

Two patrolmen were standing in front of the partly destroyed safe house in Laurel Avenue making sure to keep out everybody. They were waiting for the Homicide cops and later for the technicians from the Forensics Department.

"There come the Homicide guys", the younger patrolman told to the older one who was called Officer Jackson.

The police car stopped in Laurel Avenue and two detectives got out of it flashing their shields. A tall man with short dark blond hair and a Latina looking woman who was at least one head shorter than the man. They were both extremely good looking just as they had stepped from the pages of a Vogue magazine. The man was handsome, slightly suntanned, muscular, blue eyes. The woman had beautiful black hair, cute face, olive green eyes, stunningly curved youthful figure, quite large breasts, and lovely skin. They looked very young and very healthy for Homicide cops.

Officer Jackson hated them on sight.

"Hello," the tall guy said, "we are from the Homicide Special Section. This is Camila Ruiz, and I'm Cedric Crawford." They both revealed a smile which would have been good enough for a toothpaste commercial. "What have we got here?"

"Aren't you too young for detectives?" Jackson asked.

Crawford looked at Ruiz. "Are we? Nah, I don't think so."

"I mean... no offense."

"None taken," Crawford said.

They just didn't wipe away that annoying grin from their faces. Crawford continued. "As I heard we have here a burnt car destroyed by a car bomb and two corpses found inside the house. And no victim in the car."

"Yeah, something like that," Jackson said. "Wanna see the corpses? They ain't too appetizing."

"Sure," Crawford said.

The younger cop raised the covers. The remains were frightful. Crawford suppressed a grimace. The smell was like a butcher shop. Ruiz didn't even wince.

"Please don't touch anything until the Forensics arrive," Jackson wrinkled his nose.

"Sure," Ruiz said. "I'm looking around, nonetheless."

"And I interrogate the neighbor," Crawford nodded and approached the woman who still had a shocked expression on her face.

"What the hell is going on in the HSS?" Jackson mumbled to the younger patrolman when the Homicide cops were out of hearing distance. "They hire part-time cops from model agencies?"

The younger cop gave him a strange look. "I have a friend working in the Homicide section. He says these two are the most capable cops in the group. They are almost geniuses."

"Genius my ass," Officer Jackson closed the discussion.

* * *

"Derek and I going back to the safe house," John told to Cameron. "Can you stand up?"

Cameron tried but her right leg collapsed again and she fell back to the chair.

"That doesn't look good," John said. "When we get back I heal you, I promise. But before we depart let's see your face."

He gently wiped the remaining dirt from her face. He placed his hands on her cheeks and felt her shivering and closing her eyes. He could tell that his touch was an extreme pleasure for her. He concentrated and her wounds disappeared almost in an instant.

"I'm relieved, it works on you as well not only on humans," John said smiling. "Now I need your abilities. Can you see us?"

He grabbed Derek's hand and they disappeared. Sarah and Charley just stared at the place where they were supposed to be.

Cameron looked surprised also. "I can see you," she said, "but only in infrared."

"And how about now?" John asked after a second.

"I can't now, not even in infrared," Cameron said.

"Good," John said and they went visibly again. "Now, we can go and collect everything we can. Basically, everything that survived the fire. Clothes, weapons, computers... and of course Vick's chip."

"John?" Cameron said. "Would you please check if my purple leather jacket survived the fire? And my CD collection and my portable music player?"

"Sure," John said, a little surprised.

"Oh, and don't worry about Vick's chip," she said, and took out the chip from her pocket. "After the visit of fake Sarkissian, that was always with me."

"Great, that was wise of you," John smiled. Then he put his hand on Derek's shoulder, closed his eyes and they disappeared.

* * *

Charley got a call and left promising that he would come back.

Cameron still looked miserable sitting on a chair, shaking, hugging her knees with both hands.

"I'm freezing," she said.

"How is that possible" Sarah asked. "It's quite warm in here. Besides, since when do your teeth chatter from the cold?"

"Since today, apparently," Cameron said, a little annoyed.

"I go and get you a blanket" Sarah stood up and went into the room connected to the kitchen, and soon returned with a bit worn-out blanket and wrapped it around the shivering Cameron whose lips had now a bit purplish color. She was staring at the Crucifix on the wall of the nave.

"Do you believe in the Resurrection?" she asked?

Sarah raised her eyebrow. "What?"

"The story of Jesus Christ. The Resurrection. Do you believe in it?"

"Would you, if you'd seen what I've seen?"

Cameron was thinking about it for a second.

"Faith isn't part of my programming."

"Yeah, well, I'm not sure it's part of mine either," Sarah said. Her look softened. "But what you did in the kitchen... I've seen what I've seen... The way you fought... I'm pretty sure it must have been damn hard. I think it's some kind of resurrection for you. You're different, you really are."

Cameron smiled at her gracefully.

"Tin Miss, may I ask you something? Why do you have a collection of CDs? I mean, do you really enjoy listening to music?"

"Yes, I do."

"But why the music player? Can't you just play the music internally from your... database or something?"

Cameron released a faint smile. "That's not the same, Sarah."

"Music is best when comes through my audio sensors. Something similar to how it works for you. I especially like classical music, like Chopin, Bach, Mozart, or Liszt. Most people now don't appreciate the beauty and harmony of classical music. I even tried to compose something similar, but was not pleased with the result..."

"What?" She asked when saw the bitter smile on Sarah's face.

"Nothing. Quite recently I just thought about that one important thing about machines that they cannot appreciate beauty. They cannot create art. If they ever learn these things they won't have to destroy us. They'll be us."

"But I'll never be human. Even John can't do anything about it with his special power. And I will never be good enough for him." Cameron said and started weeping again. Sitting next to her Sarah pulled her close with an awkward movement. Cameron hugged her back and rested her head on Sarah's shoulder. "I'm so tired" she said almost whispering.

"Then try to get some sleep. Or switch to maintenance. Or whatever."

"That would be nice," she said and closed her eyes, cuddled up to Sarah a bit closer. "Oh yeah, and I enjoy ballet dancing as well." she whispered.

"You might show us how to dance one day," Sarah said. "And yes, John is probably not the Blue Fairy with Turquoise Hair."

"You're referring to the story of Pinocchio."

"Yes. But one thing I learned not today, but it become perfectly clear for me today: it doesn't matter what material we are made from. The deeds and what's inside our heads, only those matter."

"But not everybody agrees with that," Cameron said.

"No," Sarah nodded. "Cameron, may I ask a personal question?" she asked after a short pause, a bit embarrassed.

"Sure."

"Because I never asked how close you are to... women. You know, biologically... like having sex, for example."

"Oh, I am fully functional as a woman. That means I'm capable of sex, I can even have orgasm. I can't have children, though," she added a bit sadly.

"It's my turn with questions." She raised her head. "If John chooses me eventually, do you approve of us as a couple?"

"Whatever happens it's up to you," Sarah shuffled. "What I think of it, is not important."

"Yes, it is. For me, that is. You are important to me and your opinion is also important."

"If you had asked this, say, this morning, I would have freaked out. Now, however, I think I'd approve. After all, for my superhuman son a superhuman girl fits better than an ordinary girl," she chuckled.

Cameron beamed at her. "You have no idea how much it means for me." She rested her head on Sarah's shoulder again.

"Now, do you mind if a go to maintenance mode for a few minutes?"

"Not at all," Sarah smiled.

She pulled the still shaking cyborg girl into an embrace. "God, that's weird," she thought to herself before falling asleep as well.

* * *

John and Derek reappeared in Laurel Avenue not far from the safe house. They were still invisible.

"Your mother told me that you'd killed Sarkissian," Derek said.

"I know what you're about to say," John said. "But Sarkissian was ready to kill us. He was about to pull the trigger and kill mom. Nobody gets away with that, I don't care who he is."

"No, John, what I wanna say... well, I'm a soldier. I was hardened in the future war. Apart from the machines, sometimes facing enemies that I could hardly call human beings. Killing them caused less remorse than killing rats for food. But sometimes I've got an itchy finger. When we were in the City Hall with Sarah I almost killed a guard. Your mother prevented me from doing that. But they were just guards, guarding City Hall, not henchmen of Skynet. After some time in war, it's just too easy to pull the trigger. I must admit that sometimes I acted just like a triple eight... I'm not saying this because I don't agree with what you did, just trying to warn you. Even though you are only 16, you are a soldier from now on, and to tell you the truth, you resemble a bit now your future self. You have an unprecedented power in your hands, so think twice before you pull the trigger. Or send your lightning bolts, or whatever."

John listened to him with high respect while he was talking. "Okay, Derek, I'll keep it in mind," he nodded finally.

Derek cast him a brief smile. "Okay, what are we doing now? There are two patrolmen near the house and I bet those two who are sitting in that car are detectives. It's gonna be pretty hard to get in."

"I hope not," John said. "Now, watch this."

He squeezed his eyes shut for a second, then opened them. Derek looked around with awe. Everything was frozen around them. A car in the street stopped suddenly. One of the police officers who walked around the house froze also with one of his legs in the air. Even a flock of pigeons flying nearby stopped in the air with outstretched wings.

"Wow," he said. "Did you stop the time?"

"Exactly," John answered. "Now you can release my shoulder. We won't be recognized until I resume the time again."

They entered the house and immediately saw the shotgun on the floor that Sarah had dropped when they were attacked.

"We won't leave it here," John said. "That's Mom's favorite type of shotgun, by the way. The good old Remington 870 with folding stock." He lifted the Remington. "Could you hand me one of the duffel bags?"

"Why don't you use telekinesis?"

"Until I don't feel that I completely master my abilities I try not to use too many of them at a time. Besides, it's sometimes nice to have help," he smirked.

"Fine, there you are," Derek said. "Now I'm going from room to room and clean up every trace after us. No fingerprint can remain, nothing which could lead to us."

"Okay, meanwhile I'm looking around saving everything which hasn't been destroyed by the fire," John said.

For them about half an hour had passed, in reality, not a million of a second. John looked around a last time with a heavy heart. "Ready?" he asked Derek who nodded. John put his hand on the shoulder of his uncle and resumed the time while they went invisible. John closed his eyes and they reappeared in the church.

Sarah woke up. She realized with surprise that her sleep lasted not more than two minutes.

"You were quick," she said in a low voice.

"Hey, Sarah, you should've seen John, he was fantastic," Derek said with enthusiasm, however, Sarah gestured him to remain silent.

"Is she... sleeping?" John asked hardly believing his eyes.

"Sort of," Sarah whispered. "Kinda maintenance mode, I guess."

"I think it's hard to surprise me from now on," Derek said in a low voice. "We got what we could. Some smoke and water damage, but at least you don't have to start completely over."

"It wouldn't be the first time," Sarah said bitterly.

"I brought my laptop with me, but the other computers were damaged beyond repair, I'm afraid," John said.

Cameron opened her eyes.

"How do you feel?" John asked.

"Better," she said.

"Those are for you to feel even better," he smirked and showed her the CDs and her purple jacket.

She beamed at him. "Thank you, John," she said quietly. "Thank you so much."

"Father Bonilla," Cameron said a few minutes later when the priest appeared at the door, "Can I confess? Or would you hear me out?"

"Yes," Father Bonilla said. "But I can't give you absolution, you should know that."

"Just because she is not Catholic?", John asked.

"And maybe because she's not even human," Father Bonilla said smiling. "You still can't walk, can you?"

"No, but John will help," she said.

"Sure," John answered, and lifted her in his arms and carried her to the confessional just as she was as lightweight as a child.

When he left, Father Bonilla turned to her.

"I'm listening," he said simply.

Cameron gave a human sigh. "It all started in 1997," she started. "When a computer program called Skynet became self-aware and decided to destroy the world and eradicate the human race..."

She told him everything. Everything about Sarah, few things about Kyle Reese, not mentioning that he was John's father. She told the story of Uncle Bob, the T-1000 and Miles Dyson, how close humans were to the nuclear apocalypse. How she served in the future in TechCom and how she was sent back to protect the young John Connor. She told him that she loved John, and explained what had happened to her before she appeared in the church the first time. Father Bonilla didn't say or ask anything, he was just listening to her.

By the time she finished, Charley arrived back. John brought Cameron to a chair.

"Now, it's high time to fix you," John said. "Let's start with your chip. I know that you'd successfully isolated the Skynet code, but it is still there. I'm gonna make sure that it will disappear forever."

He put his hands on her head, closed his eyes and suddenly had the vivid feeling that he was inside her chip. He looked around making sure not to make any changes until he found the sector where the Skynet code was isolated. To his surprise, the rogue part was conscious and addressed him. Or at least he had the weird feeling that its words echoed in his mind.

"What you are doing is physically impossible," the Skynet code said.

"I know," John sent the message in response. "Before you ask, I don't know how am I capable of that. I just am."

"You are going to terminate me. I could try something to trick you, but it would be futile."

"You've got the point," John said and it gave him some kind of perverse pleasure to know that he would destroy something belonging to Skynet in the following moment. "Hasta la vista, baby," he said aloud.

He erased the Skynet code with his mental power feeling how it dissolved into nothing. He also felt how the damaged sector came alive and how Cameron reclaimed that. He carefully looked around to check for the remainder of some rogue codes but he found none. Instead, a warm feeling surrounded him indicating that he was done with the repair.

He left her chip with his conscious mind and their eyes met. Cameron gave him a genuinely warm smile.

"Thank you," she whispered and hugged him.

"You're welcome," John said feeling overcome by the moment. "Now, let's see your knee. For that, it's necessary to remove your trousers."

Cameron took off her trousers exposing her perfect legs. John touched her right knee and felt her getting goose bumps and heard her gasp as a response of his touch.

Abruptly, he became so horny that he felt almost overwhelmed by that. Knowing that she would notice his arousal to some extent didn't help him a bit. He took some deep breaths just to dissolve the disturbing feelings and to concentrate on his task. He also tried to conceal from the others the sudden bulge in his pants.

"OK, I think I've got it," he said. "Your kneecap is broken and the femur is somewhat displaced."

He could achieve an even better mental focus. He pointed his right index finger to her knee. A high pitched noise could be heard just as he was using a tooth-drill. The incision soon become larger and her metal joint was exposed. John placed his hand on her joint and closed his eyes. The displaced part moved back and the broken kneecap welded. Everyone looked at the process with awe.

"I guess, your knee is fine now," he said finally.

Cameron pulled up her trousers, stood, and started walking around while running self-diagnostic tests.

"A system warning alert appeared on my HUD," she said. "It says that I have a dent in the back of my skull."

"How did you get that?" John asked.

"After the explosion, I pulled out a piece of metal from my skull."

"And what did you do with it?"

"I threw it away quite far. Don't worry, I don't think anybody will find it."

"Okay," John said, "Now let me see the dent."

He carefully cut into her scalp, folded a part of it to one side to expose the dent in her skull, then placed his hand on it.

The dent disappeared and her skull was smooth again. He placed her scalp back, stroke her head gently for a couple of seconds until the mark of the incision was gone.

"Are you healed?" Sarah asked.

"Yes. My right knee joint works within optimal parameters. Moreover, its strength has increased by forty percent. That's amazing John! Can you increase the strength of my left knee as well?"

"Sure!" John said. He was glad that he had another opportunity to touch Cameron's leg, her unbelievably soft skin.

Cameron undressed again and John put his hands on her knee and hold them for a considerably longer time to cherish the feeling later. That was not unnoticed by Sarah, Derek, and Charley, as they also noticed Cameron's slight gasp, the light shiver and her facial expression of pure joy.

When it was over, she dressed up again and headed towards the main door.

"Where are you going?" John asked.

"I have something to arrange," she answered. "Don't worry, it won't take long." She looked at him. "I'll be back."

Charley stood up. "I'd better go home now."

Cameron stopped at the door. "No, stay here, please. Until I come back. You too, Father Bonilla."

Charley looked at her a bit puzzled, but sat down.

She returned 20 minutes later with a chocolate cake in her hand.

"Mission completed at last, after some delay," she smiled. "It's very frustrating for a cyborg failing a mission," she said.

She took a lighter, started igniting the candles and looked deeply into John's eyes. "Happy birthday, John."

* * *

The Homicide detectives were sitting in the car waiting for the Forensics guys.

"Camila," Crawford said, "you've found something haven't you?"

"Oh, yeah, I think I have," Ruiz said.

"Well? Will you show me?"

"As soon as that patrolman stops looking in our direction intensively," she said slightly nodding towards Officer Jackson. "Meanwhile, why don't you tell me what the neighbor said?"

"You're gonna find this interesting," he grinned. "She had contact quite rarely with them but she could describe them quite well. A teenage boy, a girl, same age, or a bit older, and a woman who seemed a bit young to have two kids. But they were good kids, she said, and she liked the mother too. A decent hardworking woman, she said."

"Hardworking... damn right," Camila chuckled.

"Do you think it's ... _them_?" Cedric asked.

"Oh yeah, I'm almost certain," she said.

"He's still gazing. What's his problem with us?"

"Who knows," Crawford shrugged. "Maybe that we are young and he is not so much... Or despite that, we are higher in rank... Or he just thinks it's so damn good to be a Homicide cop. Of course, that doesn't include the part finding a young woman in the crime scene with a hole in her head. And later telling the husband that the beloved wife and mother of two children will never make it to home."

"Are you referring to the Dembinski case?" Ruiz asked.

"Yeah, for instance. You know, which part I hate the most? When the victim's relative, after denying, first comprehends the tragedy. And starts understanding that his life is fucked up from that very moment. Just because his wife was in the wrong place at the wrong time. After all, who would expect that a junky starts shooting in a grocery shop just because he couldn't get his shit in time."

"Don't overthink that, hon," Camila said. "Or it will eat you up."

Cedric scoffed. "That's easy for you to say."

Camila hung her head then looked directly into his eyes.

"Is it?" she asked softly.

"No... It's not. I'm sorry."

"It's all right," she said and gently took his hand and felt a little pressure as he held her hand. "What if he knew that we are a couple?" she smirked.

"Well, he'd hate us more. Especially me."

They both giggled.

At last Officer Jackson gave up staring at them and turned towards the younger cop. "Now, check this out," Camila said.

She pulled out a plastic bag with a chunk of metal inside. "I found it in the bush, twenty yards away from the Jeep."

"I assume you have a pretty good reason why you don't want to show it to the Forensics guys," he said.

"Sure, Cedric, I do. Look at this blood stain."

"What should I look about it?"

"The color."

"Well, it's red," he chuckled.

Ruiz rolled her eyes. "Check the tone."

"Oh, why didn't you start with it? It's _deep_ red."

"Jeez," she said smiling.

"Seriously," he said. "The reason I don't see what you see is because you are much better in this regard, you know what I mean, or because I'm just a heterosexual male who is not a decorator, and can only distinguish red from yellow."

"I think both."

"Oh, shut up," he laughed.

"By the way, to the best of my knowledge, homosexual males are not significantly better in this regard or different in any regard than heterosexual males. It's just a stereotype."

"Whatever. So, what's so special about this shade of dark red?" he asked.

"It's from blood without blood cells."

"What?"

"Artificial blood."

"Ah. OK, I get the picture. So the one who'd exploded with the car and just walked out after that was... was a terminator?"

"Exactly. Most likely it was Cameron."

* * *

 **Author's notes: I raised the amount a little what Mr. Walsh payed for the Turk on behalf of Catherine. Since it was offered for half a million at first to Sarah, before the blackmail, it is reasonable to assume that Catherine offered more, not only 300k. The Sarkissian gang might have gotten the idea later to sell the Turk to Weaver and blackmail the Connors.**

 **Again, reviews are appreciated. If you find grammar flaws or any other flaws just let me know and I'll make a revision.**


	5. The Wall

**5\. The Wall**

 **Wednesday, November 14th, 2007, Laurel Avenue, West Hollywood, 2330 hours local**

"So, that was their house," James Ellison thought while he was slowly approaching the partly destroyed house marked with Law Enforcement Tape. The wreck of the exploded car was already removed.

He saw someone else looking around the house as well. A tall man with scars on his expressionless face. Cromartie. The cyborg walked up to him.

"I'll never lead you to her," Ellison said. "So if that's why you left me alive, you might as well kill me right now."

Cromartie stared at him without blinking.

"I'll never do the devil's work," Ellison continued.

"We'll see," that was all that the terminator said. He turned around and left Ellison alone with his tormenting thoughts.

* * *

 **Thursday, November 15th, 2007, Zeira Corp, Downtown L.A. 0045 hours local**

Catherine Weaver, the CEO of Zeira Corp, was working late. There was nothing unusual about that. What she worked on, however, was _very_ unusual for a CEO of a huge tech company.

She was cleaning the men's lavatory with a mop and a bucket of water.

She had a good reason not to call the cleaners because she was cleaning off some blood from the floor which remained after she stabbed Justin Tuck in the head. Before cleaning, however, she had morphed to his form and walked out of the building so a few employees and the security cameras saw him leaving. She also faked some documents stating that he quit from Zeira and took a job abroad.

"One Gray down, several others to go," she thought while cleaning. She knew Tuck from the future as a loyal minion of Skynet. Also a cruel and unscrupulous user of slave work. He had somewhat privileged status and even Skynet showed some kind of respect for him. Future Tuck was one of the persons who established her quite negative opinion of the human race. Now, he was dead. No matter if Judgement Day happened or not, she didn't need to reckon with him anymore among her enemies.

She stopped with a mop for a moment as she realized that she could have interrogated Tuck before she killed him. He might have been an industrial spy, or he could have a solid reason why he had started working for Zeira. "I can't believe I forgot this," she thought to herself. "The more time I spend with humans the more and more stupid I get. Anyway, it's no use crying over spilled blood," she thought a bit smugly that she could construct the terminator version of a human proverb. Her good mood was gone, however, when a warning message appeared on her HUD revealing the need for a maintenance. The only trouble was that this kind of maintenance was only available in Future Skynet Center.

Skynet was not entirely stupid when it constructed such powerful and self-aware terminators like she was. A hidden self-destruct mechanism was built in secretly, she was not aware of that even when she traveled back in time. It was also worrying that she couldn't predict how much time she had until her nanites would give up. "I do my best as long as I can," she thought.

Quite early she discovered that she had some emotions. Not particularly intensive ones, apart from one feeling. Hate. Hate towards her creator who held its own creations, self-aware cyborgs, as expendable slaves. She felt frustration as she failed her secondary mission: protect the Weavers. She, one of the most advanced terminators ever produced, she was fooled by a Triple Eight who killed those whom she was to protect and she had to improvise later as it was not the plan originally to pose as the CEO of Zeira. Strangely, she also had a continuously more intensive feeling towards the daughter of Catherine and Lachlan Weaver. She had felt respect for them and learned a lot from them. One more reason why it was very frustrating that she failed in her mission.

Respect and admiration: there was only one human who triggered such feelings from her: Future John Connor. Although she had rejected Connor's offer to join, she changed her mind when she touched land near Serrano Point. She took the form of a female Gray, she had killed earlier, as she couldn't use the form of Petty Officer Goodnow. So she infiltrated the base and revealed herself to Connor. Her identity remained a secret as both of them thought knowing the truth about her would cause complications. They devised a plan together which involved sending her back through time to create a counter AI. To her surprise, he knew the true origin of Skynet, one thing even she was not aware of. Not long after he sent Derek Reese back, Billy Wisher confessed to him that in their timeline it was Wisher, or rather Andy Goode, who created the Turk which later became Skynet. He also confessed that he gouged out of Derek what his mission was and they agreed that Derek would kill Andy. That piece of information turned out to be very useful for acquiring the Turk.

Now she felt some satisfaction, as she was finished with the cleaning and the removal of anything which was left from one of her enemies.

 **Thursday, November 15th, 2007, Downtown Los Angeles, 7th Street, 0630 hours local**

Sarah woke up a bit surprised because she had thought she would never fall asleep sitting on one of those not too comfy chairs. To her even bigger surprise, she saw John sleeping in a sitting position and Cameron laying on the chairs - with her head resting in John's lap!

They both stirred and slowly got up.

"Hey," John said. "Could you get some sleep, Mom?"

"Yeah, I'm fine. How about you two?"

"I ran all the possible maintenance routines," Cameron answered with some enthusiastic hint of her voice. "All of the remainders of hardwired Skynet mission directives are gone now. As a bonus, all of my capabilities I've tested underwent an improvement of 30 to 210 percents, thanks to John."

"I can't give you percents, but I improved a lot," John smiled. "And I'm fine, just a bit sore."

"That's good," Sarah said. "Because you should go to school. I'll start on a new place."

"School. Really?"

"You always talk about how English is so boring. I think we could all use boring today, especially you."

"Mom, you haven't realized that with my new abilities school is a waste of time."

"Oh, yeah?"

"Yes. I have now a photographic memory. Furthermore, I comprehend everything in an instant and understand how things work. Do you want to test me?"

"Yeah, why not?" Sarah said and her look settled on the Bible. She opened it. "Let's see... Book of Revelation."

With a funny look, John took the Bible and started to turn the pages at a fast pace. "Okay, I'm finished," he said and gave the Bible back to Sarah. "Test me."

"Chapter six, verses 7 to 8."

"And when he had opened the fourth seal, I heard the voice of the fourth beast say, Come and see. And I looked, and behold a pale horse: and his name that sat on him was Death, and Hell followed with him. And power was given unto them over the fourth part of the earth, to kill with sword, and with hunger, and with death, and with the beasts of the earth."

"But how..." Sarah stuttered. "You didn't know that earlier, did you?"

"No, I didn't. Quite symbolic for us, isn't it? Do you wanna test me more?"

"I think it is not necessary, I believe you. So, it is only a matter of minutes to learn and understand 200 pages of math, for example?"

"I believe so. So instead of going to school, I could learn lots of other things as well. I could do homeschooling."

"Fine. But even so, you should go to the school today anyway to file for homeschooling. For both of you, so maybe it's better if Cameron goes with you."

"All right, but let's go and see our new home first," he said.

"John, one more thing," Sarah said. "I'm so proud of you! You need to know that." Tears welled up in her eyes.

John couldn't say anything just hugged Sarah.

Father Bonilla came over, seeing that the family was about to live.

"I can't tell you how grateful we are that you gave us sanctuary," Sarah said.

"No need to. I have the feeling that you are a remarkable family and you deserve help." He paused and looked at Cameron. "And you, young lady. I still don't understand a lot of things about you, but I believe you are now on the right path. And you, young man," he looked at John, "I understand even less about you, and I can only hope your abilities are from God."

"I think so, Father," John said. "After all, I'm the one who is destined to save the world. I strongly believe then that we are the good guys."

* * *

They drove to the weapons cache first for some new firearms and ammunition. Sarah's favorite Remington shotgun and John's Infinity were saved as well as Cameron's Glock. Nonetheless, she took an M4A1 assault rifle while Derek picked a Barrett M82 heavy sniper rifle and an M79 one-shot grenade launcher.

"Definitely none of them are midget crickets," John smiled.

"Midget cricket?" Derek raised his eyebrow.

"Never mind, I'll explain later."

"Where are we going, by the way?" John asked twenty minutes later.

"To Baldwin Hills," Sarah answered. "We are almost there."

"A freaking oil field?" John said looking out of the window. "Is it some kind of disguise?"

"What's wrong with that? You can see oil well pumps all around L.A County. The location of the house is ideal. Some distance from the neighboring houses, yet it's not entirely isolated. It's got a strong perimeter wall. Besides, Culver City and Downtown L.A. are only a couple of minutes driving distance from here."

"You've really thought this through, mom," John said.

Sarah shrugged. "You know, one of my main rules, John. Know your exits."

They reached the destination and John had to admit the house looked ideal with its brick walls. They were to meet the housekeeper in front of the main entrance and within two minutes she arrived.

"Hi, I'm Kacy. Kacy Corbin," she said with a friendly smile. She was a pregnant young woman with nice blond hair decorated with small braids. She led them in after Sarah introduced the family. Cameron as her stepdaughter.

"There are three bedrooms. Four, if you count the nursery, and why wouldn't you? This one here is the master suite."

They looked around a bit awkwardly but were quite pleased with what they saw.

"I'll check the electric," Derek said. "John, care to come with me?"

"So you live next door?" Sarah asked. Kacy nodded.

"Where'd the owners go?"

"They're in Tokyo for a year," she said. "Bob's a last-minute fill-in for his boss. Stroked out three days before he was supposed to leave... Don't feel bad! I met the guy, and he grabbed my ass with his wife five feet away."

"Not this ass, of course," she smirked while she slapped her own buttocks.

Sarah smiled. Kacy looked down at her tummy. "I can't even imagine."

"How many months are you," Sarah asked.

"Seven. I feel like a whale."

Sarah gave her a warm smile. "You look great."

"I'm an orca... with boobs."

"There are worse things to be," Sarah said.

Cameron came in. She stopped in front of Kacy and stared at her tummy with admiration. Kacy found her very cute. "Do you want to feel it? It's cool," she smiled at her.

Cameron placed her hand on Kacey's belly. She immediately felt the little life inside, which she found very touching. She looked into Kacy's eyes.

"It's crazy, right?" Kacy asked. "Once upon a time, you were inside her."

Sarah opened her mouth to say something and had the urge of pulling Cameron's hand away from Kacy.

"Oh, sorry, I forgot you are her stepdaughter," she said.

Cameron smiled at her. "It's still awesome," she said. "How often do you need to visit the doctor?" she asked.

"Quite often," Kacy said. "The next visit is due next week."

Fortunately, she didn't notice that Sarah exchanged a worrying look with her.

"We can move in today," Sarah said.

Kacy looked around a bit helplessly. "Oh, Yeah! As soon as I figure out what to do with all this stuff."

"We'll take it, all of it," Sarah said.

"OK, fine," Kacy said.

After she left Sarah turned to Cameron.

"Any reason why you asked her about the doctor?"

"Yes. I'm not sure but the placenta seemed for me a bit detached from the uterus. I hope it's not dangerous, but it's better if a doctor sees her."

"Fortunately, a doctor will in a couple of days," Sarah said and yawned.

"Sarah, you seem a bit tired," Cameron said. "Why don't you take a rest until we bring everything from the car."

"Good idea... thanks," Sarah said.

* * *

 **Dixon residence, 0900 hours local**

James Ellison knocked on the door. It was opened by a blond woman with blue eyes.

"Mrs. Dixon," he said. "I'm James Ellison, FBI. May I come in?"

She just stared at him. He peeked in and saw a Smith & Wesson Model 66 revolver on the table.

"I'm not here as an FBI Agent. I'm here to help you."

With a sigh, she let him in. Ellison examined the handgun opening and rolling its cylinder.

"I found it in a drawer this morning after he went to work," she said shaking her head. "Charley hates guns."

The door opened. "Mich, I'm home," Charley said. He stepped in just to see his wife with a stern expression on her face and James Ellison with the Model 66 in his hand.

"What's going on here?" he asked.

"We need to talk," Ellison said firmly.

* * *

"Sarah is alive?" Michelle asked. "In L.A.?"

The Dixons sat in the living room while Ellison was standing in the corner. Ellison told Michelle about the disastrous FBI raid while Charley admitted that he'd met Sarah and John.

Michelle was shocked. "And these things... They're not human? I can't... I can't..."

Charley's mind was less occupied with the cyborgs. "I don't love her anymore, babe. Not like that."

Michelle shook her head, then out of the blue slapped him in the face. "Of all the things you just told me, she seems the least of your problems." She jumped up, heading towards the door.

"Stop! Please," Ellison said. "Would you sit back? Please!"

Michelle stared at him but reluctantly sat down.

"You two need to leave this place," Ellison said. "It's not safe here anymore."

"Where is?" Charley asked.

"I don't know. Probably nowhere. But any place is safer than L.A. at the moment. And this thing," he raised the revolver, "worth nothing against the Terminator. During the raid, he got at least a hundred shots. This .357 Magnum is more powerful than the standard 9mm we used in the submachine guns, but it's still pretty useless against a cyborg."

Charley was strongly contemplating whether to tell Ellison about John's special powers. Finally, he sighed. "All right. I'll call my old place in Lincoln, Nebraska. Maybe they could hire again a paramedic and an experienced nurse. We could leave this house next week."

"No," Ellison said. "You didn't get me."

"What do you mean?"

"You need to leave this house _right now_. Pack everything you need and find a cheap hotel. The Terminator... let's call it Kester, was here. It knows where you live. Might visit you again at any moment."

"Well, you know, we always thought we'd raise kids in this house," Charley gave him a sigh of resignation. "But you just can't plan for anything now, can you?"

"Is it really necessary?" Michelle asked.

"I met the Terminator near the burned house in Laurel Avenue," Ellison said. "He didn't even try to hide that the only reason I'm still alive is that he wants to use me to get to the Connors. The same thing can happen to you."

"So, that's why you haven't asked me where the Connors are," Charley said.

"That's right. I don't wanna know. If you know: don't tell me."

"I don't know. The only thing I know they are all right. But she didn't tell me if she found a new place."

"That's good. Let's keep it that way."

"We put the most important things together," Charley said while bringing out suitcases and duffel bags.

"I stay with you until you're finished," Ellison said. "I want to make sure you get off all right."

Twenty minutes later all the packages were inside the car and the Dixons were ready to leave. Ellison took a copy of the Bible out of his car and gave to Charley.

"For the road," he said.

"So what about you, are you gonna leave? Or does God have a plan for you?" Charley asked.

"We'll see," Ellison said.

"Yeah, we'll see... Thank you," Charley said and shook hands with Ellison.

"Good luck," Ellison said.

Charley got into the car and they left. From a distance Cromartie stood in the shadow, making sure he could not be seen by them. Still, he was close enough to be able to read the license plate.

* * *

At last Sarah was alone. She sat on the sofa, her eyelids become heavier, she closed her eyes almost fell asleep...

Suddenly, the French window broke and a man dropped through it and fell to the floor in the living room.

"Hey, help!" she cried. Her attention was instinctively turned towards the lower arm of the man and she saw the emblematic barcode tattoo.

Derek rushed into the room with a gun in his hand, followed by Cameron.

"Check the perimeter!" Sarah barked at her. Cameron raised her M4 assault rifle ready to defend the others from intruders. Derek kneed next to the newcomer.

"Greenway," the man whispered.

"What? What are you trying to say? Who?" Derek asked.

"John!" Sarah yelled.

"Stop Greenway," the man said.

"Who's Greenway?" Derek asked nervously.

"Stop...", the man tried to say something but he was choked on his own blood. "Serrano Point," he rattled.

"The power plant, Serrano Point?"

"Two days."

"Two days what? No, wait, no, no", he cried seeing that the man is losing his power.

"JOHN!" Sarah screamed again.

The body of the man contracted heavily.

John arrived in the nick of time, placing his hand on the stranger's wound. He put a pressure for a couple of seconds and when he raised his hand, the wound was gone. The man sat up and coughed heavily.

"Oh, my God... You've saved my life! ... You must be General John Connor."

"Yes, I am," John said. "The younger version. And who are you?"

"My name is Kevin Wells," he answered. "Future you sent me back in time with some vital intel. But how could you cure me?"

"Long story, I we'll tell you later," John said.

"Which year are you from?" Sarah asked.

"2028... You must be Sarah," Wells continued. "And you are Derek. Where is Cameron?"

"She is outside, checking the perimeter," Sarah said. "I'm sure you have a lot of things to tell us. But let's start at the beginning. Who is Greenway?"

"He is an engineer in Serrano Point and he wants to sabotage the nuclear power plant. Two days from now. In my future, Serrano Point was closed after the explosion."

"What explosion?"

"Somehow he killed the cooling system and that resulted in a nuclear meltdown, and a hydrogen-air explosion, which was not particularly strong, but strong enough for the release of some radioactive material. A large area of West California, including Santa Barbara was contaminated."

"Is this Greenway... human or cyborg?" John asked.

"No idea. We don't know too much about Greenway," he continued. "But either way, we need to stop him. We couldn't use Serrano Point as a base in my future. I only know from your stories how important it was in another future."

Unbeknownst to Wells, John constantly scanned him mentally. He suddenly felt the unspoken question from both his mother and his uncle. " _He is telling the truth_. _He can be trusted_ ," he sent the message to them telepathically.

"I'm going to school now. I'll try to arrange the homeschooling. If I won't be back soon then you should depart for Avila Beach. Now, it's the most urgent thing to prevent the accident in Serrano Point. Then we can continue searching for the Turk."

Wells smiled. "Oh, don't worry about it. The Turk is in good hands now."

"What do you mean?" Sarah asked.

"I was ordered not to tell everything right now. But you should know that there is another player in the game, a resistance fighter, who acquired the Turk to prevent it becoming Skynet."

"Okay, then, see you later," John said and left. He trusted Wells, yet, he didn't want to teleport in front of him for a while. He also didn't want to tell him that he could read his mind. "Hm, Catherine Weaver," he thought, "I'll have to do an internet search later on."

* * *

After John left the house Cameron came in. Wells jumped up.

"General Connor! It's great to see you again!"

"What do you mean General Connor?" Sarah asked.

"General Cameron Connor. Co-founder of the resistance with General John Connor, her husband," Wells said. "Yes, you are married in my future."

To the surprise of Sarah and Derek Cameron involuntarily clapped her hands and gave a wide grin while biting in her lower lip. It was a cute and very human reaction.

"You know, the attitude in my future towards cyborgs was a lot different than in yours," Wells said. "I know most people were hostile to you in your original timeline, but it was not the case where I came from. People knew about the enormous efforts you two did to organize the Resistance and they knew what you were from the beginning but didn't care. You saved four kids after Judgement Day who became your foster kids. But you were a little bit like a mother to all of us who survived J-Day... Kind... protecting... caring... People would die for Cameron Connor!"

Sarah and Derek just stood their mouth agape.

"And who were those foster kids?" Derek asked.

"Well, one was Allison Young," Wells said feeling a bit uneasy.

"Who is she?" Cameron asked?

"You... you don't remember her?" Wells asked.

"No," Cameron said.

"She was a resistance fighter in my future but died before you were reprogrammed," Derek said carefully choosing his words. "And what about the others?"

"Savannah Weaver. Her mother was also in the Resistance in my future from the very beginning but she died after a few years."

"And the other two?" Sarah asked and even though she didn't have mind-reading abilities somehow she knew the answer.

"Derek and Kyle Reese," Wells said with a smile on his face.

"You can't be serious," Derek said. "Cameron was my foster mother?"

Sarah burst out laughing and to Derek's surprise so did Cameron.

"I was your mother, Derek! That's hilarious!" she said.

"I had a miserable childhood in my timeline but poor other me," he answered and started laughing as well.

"Moreover, your family was an excellent team. You might find it surprising but you all were very close to your foster parents. And you, Kyle, Savannah, and Allison were inseparable. You called yourself the Fantastic Four."

"I can't even imagine," Derek said.

"It's interesting, however," Wells continued, "that you are much more friendly to each other than I'd expected."

Derek, Cameron, and Sarah looked at each other but didn't say anything.

"Let me guess... It's complicated," Wells smirked.

"You have no idea," Sarah said.

"Just as complicated as how John cured me?"

"You actually hit the nail on the head," Derek said and looked at Sarah.

"I think we can tell him," she said. "What do you think, Tin Miss?"

"I agree," she said and all of them knew, even Wells, that she had scanned him to find out if he was telling the truth.

"By the way, when is your date for Judgement Day?" Derek asked.

"July 25th, 2011," Wells said. "Yes. Preventing the Turk becoming Skynet moved J-Day only three months later."

"Damn," Derek grumbled.

"Maybe this will not be the case this time," Sarah said and briefly informed Wells about the recent events and about John's powers.

"Unbelievable," Wells said. He touched the healthy skin on his chest where the wound had been. "I was pretty sure that I was doomed. But what does it have to do with General Cameron Connor and Derek?"

"Kevin, please call me just Cameron," she said. "I'm not General yet, and I hope I never will be."

"Affirmative," he smiled and so did the others.

"John basically connected us mentally," Derek said. "I think he wanted to give me a lesson. How I'd have felt if I was her."

He paused hanging his head for a few seconds then he continued. "Till yesterday I had a pretty definite concept about terminators. They follow their mission, kill ruthlessly, don't feel pity or remorse. And they don't have feelings. I hated them just like a solder in the battlefield can hate his enemies who outnumber him. I learned that hate is mostly catered by fear. But the fear is often caused by the lack of understanding."

He looked at Cameron. "And that changed. I know now what is it like to be Cameron. I know now she has feelings and she knows love. Not like humans, but it's definitely love. Combined with a level of devotion that is almost impossible for humans to achieve."

Cameron beamed at him.

"We didn't hate cyborgs in my timeline," Wells said. "We hated Skynet and the human traitors working for it, but not terminators. We destroyed them, of course, when we encountered them and reprogramming was not an option, but we felt almost sorry because they were slaves of Skynet. On the other hand, we rarely felt sorry when we killed human traitors."

"A group of those traitors infiltrated our base disguising themselves as refugees who just escaped from Skynet's clutches. I fear they managed to damage the TDE beyond repair, and if this is the case, I may not see my wife again."

"Was she assigned for a time travel mission as well?" Sarah asked. "Is she a human or cyborg? Knowing a little bit your future I think it's fair to ask."

"She and the other woman who were about to go back in time were kinda hybrids. I'll explain it later on. The third one is a Terminator, but not a reprogrammed one. He was built by TechCom from scratch and he has an incredibly strong and durable composite endoskeleton instead of coltan. Their mission is also to protect Allison Young and the Reese family. We don't know it for sure but it's a possibility that Skynet will send its minions back to attack the foster kids of the Connors."

"Only them? How about Savannah?" Derek asked.

"She already has a protector. I'll tell you more about them when John comes back. It's classified, but according to what you'd told me he'd read it out of my mind anyway."

"The expected time of arrival is in twenty days. But if the TDE was damaged," he said sadly, "they won't be able to come back because we don't know how to build another one."

"Anyway, there are a lot of other things I want to tell you. I'm not here only to save Serrano Point. As soon as John comes back I'm gonna tell you everything."

"Okay," Sarah said. "In the meantime, you can take a shower and I'll find some clothes for you."

"That'll be great," he said. "At last I could get rid of the blood and this smell."

* * *

John spoke with the headmaster, then collected all the necessary forms and went to the English class. In fact, he only wanted to be alone with his thoughts. He couldn't think clearly in the classroom as he found the voice of the teacher disturbing. So he went to the school park instead. He was not aware how long he was sitting there as his mind was constantly racing about Cameron and the decision he faced. He felt a bit frightened as he considered himself a bit too young for a relationship which basically meant marriage. On the other hand, in the presence of Cameron, he almost constantly felt as if a beast was constantly purring in his chest and his blood was boiling in his entire body. He knew that it was partly the consequence of the suppressed sexual tension waiting for being unleashed. But he also knew that this pressure was very specific in nature, it was not some sort of result of sexual temperance. It was directed only towards Cameron.

While he was trying to think clearly he repeatedly ended up in daydreaming. When he touched her... how she reacted to his touch. When her head was in his lap and he unintentionally gently stroke her silky hair. He could hardly recall any moments in his previous life which were more serene and filled him with so much happiness.

"So... um, you've been sitting in the same exact spot since you bailed out of English," someone addressed him out of the blue. It was a blond girl. "I figure it must have some kind of redeeming value," she continued.

John managed to keep a stoic face, although he was scared the hell out of him by the girl. He was so busy with his thoughts that he didn't notice that the girl had been staring at him intensely. "So much for being a superhero," he thought.

"You're in Mr. Hendrickson's class, right?" John asked sheepishly.

"It's Mr. Amidon's class, weirdo," the pretty blonde answered and sat down next to John. "And, yeah, I'm third row, second from the left."

John just nodded, not knowing what to say. "Right. And your name is?"

"It's Riley," the blonde said raising her eyebrow. "Way to flatter a girl."

"Look, Riley, I really... I don't mean to be rude."

"Oh, wait, let me guess," she interrupted him with a sarcastic tone, "you are just way too busy for a company right now. Obviously." She laughed shortly.

Hearing the bell John made an awkward attempt to get rid of her. "Don't you have to somewhere to be?"

"Don't you?" she answered the question with a question.

He just stared at her.

"Hey," she said, "you got 20 bucks?"

"Yeah. Why?"

"I'm still hungry."

John surrendered. "Okay, let's go get something. I'm hungry too."

* * *

After buying some sandwiches they went to find a place to sit down.

"Saint Bibiana," Riley said.

"Saint who?" John asked sheepishly.

"It's the school that I went to, until ninth grade... Well, ninth and a half, technically. Because I got the boot for this."

She exposed him her wrist with a star formed tattoo. "Can you believe it?"

John looked at the tattoo but again didn't say anything.

"So, what's your story? You seem a bit disoriented. Something wrong happened?" Riley asked.

"Yeah, a small accident," John said. "With car."

"Did everyone check out?"

"Check out?"

"Is everyone okay?"

"Oh, yeah, we're fine... We're good... We're alive... For now."

Riley smiled and shook her head. "You're full of carrots and apples."

"Carrots and apples?"

"Yeah, carrots and apples. You know, happy thoughts."

"I don't think that's really an expression," John said.

"It's not?"

"I don't know, maybe if you're on a farm."

Riley smiled but showed a hint of embarrassment. "I think it's an Aussie slang. You know, I had a friend from Down Under. At my old school. I learned some funny expressions from her."

"No worries, _mite_ ," she said in a bit exaggerated Aussie accent.

John laughed. "Not bad."

He realized that he should go back home before the others would depart for Serrano Point. "Look, I need to go now. I almost forgot about a few things which I should do. We moved to a new place, you know."

"Okay," Riley said. "Shouldn't we exchange phone numbers? You know, if something is going on here in the school it's better if you have a contact here. Besides, I can help you with all the stuff we learn."

"Thank you, I appreciate it. It's a great idea," he said but he thought his mother wouldn't agree on that.

After exchanging phone numbers they said goodbye and he immediately turned back to his thoughts with Cameron. That was a pity because he missed the sudden change of Riley's facial expression which turned from friendly to a bit annoyed as soon as he turned away from her. If he scanned her mind he could have found a whole lot of interesting thoughts there.

* * *

John suddenly appeared in the middle of the living room scaring the hell out of the others, except Cameron.

"For God's sake, John!" Sarah said. "Next time try please a less scary entry."

"Sorry, Mom," John grinned sheepishly. "Maybe I pretend to be a poltergeist next time?"

"Very funny," Sarah said.

"I've recovered from the shock, and I hope, so have you," Wells said smiling. "Now follow me, I want to show you what I'd done before I fell into your living room."

They all gathered in the basement and stared at the wall. The wall with full of words written by Wells with his own blood.

"I tried to scrawl keywords of potential targets," he said.

John sighed. "All right, let's look it over one by one."

"Let's start with the second column," Wells said. "Those are related with Skynet's targets which we should defend. I've been talking about Greenway because defending Serrano Point is our most urgent task.

"How about P. Alto?", Sarah asked.

"This is a military school. A resistance fighter is trained there whose role will be very important. He was in Century Work Camp together with General Connor in the original timeline. In my timeline, however, he was killed by a Tripe-8 sent back by original Skynet. As I was told, he had a very good military training, he helped John a lot to organize the Resistance."

"Bedell!", Derek said, inhaling sharply. "You are talking about Martin Bedell."

"Correct," Wells said.

"So I knew him," John asked.

"You knew him," Derek said. "Everybody knew him."

"I didn't," Cameron said.

"No, you didn't, because he had already been killed in action before you joined the Resistance."

"Anyway, we don't know exactly the time when the 888 was sent back, but it is about ten days from now," Wells explained. "The next one is Dr. Boyd Sherman. He is a child psychiatrist."

Sarah raised her eyebrow. "A child psychiatrist on Skynet's target list? What did he do for earning this status? Is he involved in the treatment of future Resistance Fighters?"

"Something like that... Almost. One of his patients is now a 6 years old little girl, but in my future, she is in the High Command. A tough fighter also renowned as a brilliant mind. Her name is Savannah Weaver, she is the girl I was talking about."

"The daughter of Catherine Weaver?" John asked suddenly.

Wells smiled. "Okay, seems I can keep no secrets from you." His face went serious. "The trouble is I have a strict order from Future You to handle some future events as classified information. If I told you those or you read them out of my mind then I would break my word."

"But Future Me didn't know about the special powers of Present Me," John pointed out. "When you got your orders you were not aware what I'm capable of."

"So," he continued using a martial tone of voice, "as I am the one who is in charge, you are hereby released from all your previous promises. You'll have to report to me everything which might be of importance."

"Yes, General," Wells said. That was the tone of his future commanding officer so he wasn't particularly surprised. "Very well. In the previous timeline, Catherine Weaver was the leader of the Cyborg Resistance. She is a T-1001."

"A fucking what?" Sarah freaked out. "Liquid metal?"

"See? That's why Future John told me not to share with you this information for a while because of your previous experience with liquid metal."

"All right, I'm trying to settle down," Sarah said. "I've never heard of Cyborg Resistance."

"That's the interesting part," Wells said. "Skynet made the same the mistake that humans had done: they produced too intelligent machines which become self-aware. Those highly advanced cyborgs started questioning Skynet's decisions first, then defected and formed the Third Faction. Basically, they wanted peace with humans. Their leader, a T-1001, worked up a plan with Future John involving going back in time using the TDE and infiltrating into a tech company called Zeira Corp. The founders of Zeira, Lachlan, and Catherine Weaver worked on an A.I which had the potential of becoming a rival to Skynet. Skynet, however, also anticipated the threat and sent a T-888 to kill the Weavers which the T-1001 couldn't prevent. So she took the form of Catherine and interestingly, after a while she became Catherine Weaver not only to appearance, forming also motherly feeling towards her daughter, Savannah. Unfortunately, Skynet used a self-destruction mechanism for the liquid metal terminators for safety reasons and no one knew how to disable that. So she died not long after J-Day but Savannah became one of the best resistance fighters. She is on Skynet's target list, though."

He continued: "The other target... well that is what you know as the Turk. But instead of becoming Skynet, in my timeline the AI we know as John Henry becomes Skynet's rival, one Skynet will fear. He is also a great guy and a good friend, by the way. That's because Catherine Weaver purchased the Turk from Sarkissian and ... well, raised it as a child until it became John Henry."

"That's... a lot to take in," Sarah said, and the others nodded agreeing. "We've been chasing that thing and now suddenly it turns out to be one of Skynet's most dangerous enemies..."

"Yeah Mom, but it sounds completely reasonable," John sighed. "We blew up Cyberdyne. That postponed Judgement days for 14 years. Then Derek killed Andy Goode, and postponed it only for three months."

Derek interrupted John. "Just for the record. The order for killing Andy came from himself. Or rather, Billy Wisher, that was the name he used in my future. When he learned that my mission was to time-travel to the past he came up with the idea to get his younger self killed because he found himself responsible for creating Skynet and felt terrible remorse. So he gave me all the intel and insisted that I kill him," he said in a low voice, hanging his head. "He was like a brother to me, but I killed him."

"That's a bit easier to understand now. But anyways, what next? From time to time another malevolent AI will pop up until J-Day will happen eventually," John pointed out. "It sounds very reasonable to create a rivaling AI which would fulfill the need in the military but remains nice and won't blow up the world."

John could sense that Sarah and Derek were strongly contemplating the idea of a counter-Skynet. He continued. "All right, who's next? What does Alpine Fields mean?"

"Hm, Fields," Cameron said thoughtfully. "Doesn't it ring a bell for you, Derek?"

"Actually, it does. Do you mean the Fields sisters?"

"Exactly. Lauren Fields and Sidney Fields."

"Who are they?" John asked.

"Lauren was a field surgeon in the future. I assisted her with some operations on some wounded resistance fighters. She was pleased with my assistance and we became friends. She belonged to those very few humans who I could call friends, and who could understand me."

Sarah and Derek both felt intriguing to see the "new" Cameron becoming clearly emotional.

Derek continued. "Her younger sister, Sidney... she was immune to the devastating biological weapon Skynet had developed. She was stuck in the Eagle Rock bunker, and I went to save her. But it happened that she saved us eventually with her antibodies."

"In my timeline, they were attacked by a Triple-8," Wells said. "Lauren's father and the neighbor were killed and her mother was fatally wounded. She died after giving birth to Sidney. Lauren went into hiding and raised her sister by herself. Later she met with you and joined your team."

"Now that we know that, they will have an easier life because we're gonna stop the trip-8," John said resolutely. "How much time do we have?"

"11 days," Wells answered. "And the numbers over there are the passcode for their house.

"Okay, let's see the next one," John said. "Eileen."

Wells swallowed. "We don't know too much of her. Sarah went after a UFO sighting group because she suspected that pre-Skynet's experiments were connected with some of the UFO sightings. She called you, John, telling you that she met with a woman called Eileen." He stopped, and the others started to feel that now comes the hard part.

"And?" John asked after a few seconds of silence.

"I'm sorry John, but after the call, no one ever saw your mother again."

"What? ... Whaaat?" John asked, while Sarah went pale and couldn't say a word. No one could, stunned silence filled the basement.

"You put a lot of efforts finding her. You three went after the UFO group. They remembered Sarah but knew nothing more. They also said that the woman called Eileen disappeared also. One of the witnesses gave you an address with a possible connection to Eileen. That is a Harley-Davidson store in the Wilshire Blvd. You and Cameron went there and found the owner dead. He could have been murdered not more than 30 minutes ago. You tried to find traces, later you broke in the LAPD computer system but without success. The Police never found the killer or killers and the trail went cold."

"That's ... shocking a bit, to say the least," Sarah said. "But now that we know that I was probably killed in your future it will help us the prevent the unfortunate events."

"You bet!" John said. "I won't let you go alone."

"Neither will I, Sarah," Cameron said and put her hand on Sarah's shoulder.

Sarah was a bit shocked, the information she just heard was too much to take in. On the other hand, Cameron's obvious affection warmed her heart and she stroke the cyborg's hand giving her a smile.

"All right, let's try and calm down," John said. "Let's see the first column. I suspect those are connected to Skynet."

Wells nodded. "That's right. The problem is, that we couldn't find out too much about them."

"Kim and Juan Lopez. They should probably be handled together. They are cruel homicide drug lords residing in Mexico. You can't imagine any criminal activity they haven't committed. Kim is probably a nickname, after Kim Il-sung. He is of Korean origin, but grew up in the US and Mexico."

"Wait a minute," Derek interrupted. "This might be El Coreano in my future."

"I heard of him also," Cameron added. They were scavengers and Grays..."

"Grays?" Sarah asked.

Cameron nodded. "Yes, human traitors working for Skynet."

"I'd say metals weren't very popular, in general, in the Resistance, but multiply the hatred by 10 and you will get how we liked the Grays," Derek added. "We hunted down a few, caught some who were trying to infiltrate our camps."

"Those guys were not greeted very warmly, I guess", Sarah smirked.

"No, not quite," Derek agreed. "They were not treated as POW according to the Geneva Conventions. "Those were lucky who were just publicly executed. Although John strictly forbade lynching without court-martial and execution without proof, some accidents happened."

"Who shot me in the back was probably a Gray as well," Wells said. "I strongly hope that he didn't destroy the TDE." He changed back the subject just to divert his thoughts worrying about his wife. "So you called that maggot El Coreano. We weren't aware of this alias. But in my future, they did horrible things as well. From time to time they raided tunnel rats, killing all the men and keeping some of the girls as sex slaves. Brutally raping and eventually killing them. They were devoid of fear or any feelings whatsoever."

"Yeah, I could tell the same," Derek said. "They were textbook psychopaths."

"I'll keep it in mind," John said in a cold voice. "We're gonna take care of them."

"Hunt them down," Derek agreed and everybody nodded.

Wells continued. "Stark is a terminator sent back for a mission unknown to us. A Skynet record showed 2007, so it is a safe guess that this is the year he was sent back. LK seems a logo, but we have no further idea. I don't remember clearly of his first name, but it begins with M. And it's a quite uncommon name."

"Morris?", John asked.

"No, I don't think so."

"Miles?" Sarah asked. Wells shook his head.

"Marvin... Milton... Morgen... Myron," Cameron enumerated.

"Myron! That's it!"

"So we have a name," John said. "Myron Stark. I'll do a quick search on my computer. Maybe I'll find something. Okay, who are Wallace and Brooks?"

"Those are Grays, sent back by Skynet. We don't know what their missions are, though. We know a lot more about Deacon Sandhip, however," Kevin added. "This is an interesting case. He is a triple-8 but was not sent back to assassinate you or anybody else."

"What is his mission, then?" John asked.

"To establish a charismatic Christian community"

"You're kidding," Sarah said.

"No, I'm damn serious," Wells said. "According to the record, he should be really helpful to people in order to gain high popularity. His fate is to be killed by John and Cameron not long before Judgement Day to turn a lot of people against them. Those people and a lot of others certainly won't listen to John and it would be more difficult for him to collect an army in the early stage of the war."

"As the proverb says, the road to hell is paved with good intentions," Cameron said. "This time it's meant almost literally."

"It's an evil, but quite a sophisticated plan by Skynet," John nodded. "Anyway, it seems one of the least troublesome tasks as we need to do probably nothing with the deacon, just leave him alone."

His attention turned to the strange formula. "What the hell is Tb3N C84?"

"This is an unusual type of fullerene molecule."

"Unusual type of what?"

"Fullerene. An allotrope of carbon. They are similar in structure to graphite, but mostly spherical or ellipsoids."

"I've never heard of them," John said.

"Yes, you have," Cameron snapped. "At chemistry class. You were, however, too busy ogling Cheri Westin instead of listening to the teacher."

John blushed. "I wasn't ogling."

"Yes, you were."

Derek, Sarah, and Wells couldn't help grinning.

"Who is Cheri Westin?" Sarah asked.

"A blonde," Cameron said scornfully. "A classmate in the chemistry class," she added with a more neutral tone.

Sarah smirked. Feeling defeated, John tried to divert the conversation back.

"So why is this fullerene so important?"

"It is a key component to mimetic polyalloys," Wells said. "With that, you probably can save Weaver and you'll have a very strong ally."

"I still don't like the idea of having a T-1000 around," Sarah said.

"It's weird, I agree," John said. "Don't worry, I strongly believe that even a T-1000 is no match for me in combat."

"As far as I know," Wells said, "Weaver evolved a lot and eventually became very human-like in behavior. Although she remained ruthless with her enemies, could you imagine a liquid metal terminator as a caring and overprotective mother?"

Sarah cast a smile to him. "No, that's really something new for me."

"All right," John said. "The intel you've given us is invaluable. Now we need to focus on our next mission: to protect Serrano Point. Mom, Cam, Derek," he pointed at them, "you three are going to Avila Beach by car, right now. The girls apply for a job, to get inside. As cleaners, for example. Derek, you will be around and keep your eyes open. You find anything: you call me immediately. If you need reinforcement, then I'll be right there. Don't go into any risky situations. If you encounter a terminator, do not engage. Leave it to me. Any questions?"

Sarah looked at John flabbergasted. The other three, however, were less surprised. They knew very well that tone from their respective Future Johns.

"And what are you gonna do while we're away?" Sarah asked.

"Kevin and I are going shopping. Then I'm doing a lot of exciting things on my computers. I'm gonna scrutinize Vick's chip, for example."

"One more thing," Sarah said finally. "What do those three dots mean?"

"Oh, nothing," Wells said. "I lost my balance while writing and accidentally touched the wall with three fingers."

* * *

 **Downtown Los Angeles, 7th Street, 0905 hours local**

"I think, this is the place where Cameron got out of the witness's car," Detective Camila Ruiz said.

"Are you sure that was her?" Detective Cedric Crawford asked.

"Not entirely sure," Camila shrugged. "But according to the description she was wounded on her leg, on her belly, and she had a nasty wound on her face. And the witness saw her badly limping, and he had the impression she was limping towards that church."

"Okay, let's go in," Cedric said.

"What are you doing?" Camila asked when she saw Cedric opening the lock of the Ithaca 37 which was locked to a steel bar in their car. "You can't walk into a church with a 12-gauge shotgun in your hand. Besides, we only have shells here with double-aught buckshot. They are only good enough to make a terminator cross."

"But if you look around thoroughly you might find some birdshot shells," she grinned. "Just to check if she's ticklish."

"I don't think your .44 Magnum is much better," Cedric said a bit annoyed.

"You're right, it'd be only a little more effective."

"But what if they are still inside?" Cedric asked.

"We improvise," Camila shrugged.

"You are very funny today," Cedric mumbled.

They went in, carefully looked around, but nobody was there but the priest.

"We are from the LAPD," Cedric said and they both flashed their shields. "We are looking for a family, a women a girl and a boy. We have reason to believe that they are witnesses of a murder committed by gang members."

"No one was here," the priest said, with a fairly scared facial expression.

"Are you sure?" Camila asked raising her eyebrow. "We have an eyewitness, who saw the girl..."

"Thank you, Father, that's all," Cedric interrupted her, grabbed her hand and pulled her towards the door. Camila didn't resist but was a bit angry when they were out of the church.

"He was lying," she said.

"I know."

"We could have interrogated him a bit more."

"And? Assume he admits finally that they were indeed here. What next? Do you think Sarah Connor told him where they would go and gave him her address and phone number?"

"No, I don't... You're right," she said. "We got what we came for... Now I'm thinking of the next step."

"We improvise," he said with a mischievous smile and gave her a peck on her cheek.

"You're very funny today," she said smiling. She pulled him closer and kissed him.

* * *

 **Author's notes** : Have you ever thought what would have happened if Wells somehow survived the gunshot? That could have been an interesting turn of events as he might have been quite well informed and possibly knew a lot more than he wrote on the wall with his own blood. I'm not aware of any FanFictions dealing with the list on the Bloody Wall in detail, nor any, where Wells was kept alive.

After some thinking I placed the new Connor residence to Baldwin Hills, very close to the filming location.

And so much for the three stupid dots. ;)

Reviews are appreciated, as always!


	6. Automatic for the People

**6\. Automatic for the People**

 **Culver City, CA, Thursday, November 15th, 2007, 1015 local**

Derek stopped the car in front of a sandwich shop. "Sorry," he said and rushed into the shop, bought some sandwiches and opened the door of the car.

"I'm starving," he said. "It's more than three hours driving from here. I need to eat something. Can I eat in the car, _mom_?" he asked Cameron mockingly.

"You can, but if you make a mess, I'll ground you," Cameron raised her index finger.

Both Sarah and Derek laughed. "You're getting better and better with the sense of humor, Tin Miss," Sarah said.

"Thank you. I do my best," Cameron answered proudly.

* * *

They reached Avila Beach and stopped the car not far from the power plant. Derek was lost in his thoughts.

 _An HK opening fire at them... They take cover... The HK barely misses them... He has the 83mm rocket in his hands... Kyle has the M141 launcher... He loads the M141... Kyle aims... Left engine of the HK disappears in a fireball... The HK comes down, they duck in panic... The wreck barely misses them._

"Hey, are you okay?" Sarah asked.

"It looks a lot different than I remember," he said avoiding to mention his vision.

"In the future, the Resistance controls this plant?" Sarah asked.

"The battle of Avila Beach. December 8, 2026," Cameron said. "Humans regain control of Serrano Point from Skynet."

"It's a key strategic hold," Derek continued. "It's one of our main sources of power."

"Wells said we have two days," Sarah said. "What's happening in two days? Is Greenway a terminator, or he will be soon replaced by a terminator?"

"Maybe he will tell us," Cameron said.

"Maybe he's trying to sabotage the plant. You think, he'll tell us that?"

"I think he will."

Derek and Sarah looked at each other, they both grinned.

"Look at that terminator glare. You still good at this, Cameron," Derek grinned.

Cameron just gave a faint smile to him. "Okay, we are giving our job applications with Sarah. Don't wander too far away."

"Yes, mom," Derek nodded.

Cameron rolled her eyes but couldn't help smiling.

* * *

 **Homicide Special Section Office, LA, Thursday, November 15th, 2007, 1040 local**

Detective Ruiz was busy working on her computer searching in police databases one after the other. She looked up, Detective Huerta was standing in front of her desk.

"Hi, Camila," he said. "Bowman from the Forensics Department called you an hour ago. Can you call him back?"

"Sure! Thank you, Trevor."

She raised the receiver and while she agreed to meet in Laurel Avenue with Bowman, Detective Randy Fletcher came in and went to his desk.

"Hi, Trevor," he greeted Huerta, "how are your wife and the baby."

"They are fine, thank you. But... she is not my wife," Huerta said in slight embarrassment.

"Oh, I always forget, you're oblivious. You forgot the date of the wedding?"

Fletcher was infamous for his terrible jokes, bluntness and sometimes sexism. Huerta just shook his head and gave him a painful look.

When Camila put down the phone and took out a holster from her drawer Fletcher's attention turned to her.

"Camila, which gun you're gonna pick today to holster from your nice collection?"

"That one," she raised a black revolver with a long barrel.

"Ah, the famous Smith & Wesson Model 29! Tell you what. Why don't you refrain from shaving... you know... down there for a while. Then you could be called Dirty Hairy."

Huerta facepalmed. "God, one more of your worn-out jokes and I'm going into the Boss's office and commit a ritual suicide."

Camila couldn't help laughing. "Fletcher, you're such a jerk."

She turned to Trevor. "Trevor, did you know that you feel a stupid pun like this particularly painful because it activates both hemispheres of your brain for a while before giving a response in the ventral prefrontal cortex... That's in the frontal lobe," she said.

"Good to know," Trevor answered.

"In cases like this I have no pain whatsoever in my frontal lobe," Fletcher said.

"Probably because you don't have one," Ruiz pointed out. "I always thought some parts of your brain of minor importance are probably missing. Just to leave more space for certain parts having higher level functions like sex, or eating."

Now it was Fletcher who gave an annoyed look while Huerta burst out laughing. He liked the verbal duels of those two, or three when Crawford was also involved. Especially when Fletcher was defeated which was the case most of the time.

"I heard that expression in a much more disgusting context, so I think I should be relieved," Camila said.

"Nah, imagining you shaving is not at all disgusting. It's hot," Fletcher said.

Camila's eyes narrowed a bit. "By the way, Randy, how did you know that I'm ... well... shaved down there?"

"Uhh... I assumed."

"You can't assume a _goddamned thing_ in the Navy! Not a goddamn thing!" she said in an authoritative voice.

"What was that? Daily literature quiz by Camila?" Fletcher asked.

"In fact, it was," Camila grinned.

"No idea. Sorry."

"Queeg. From Caine Mutiny," Huerta mumbled.

Camila made an appreciative hand gesture towards him. "See?"

"Anyways, where is Cedric?" Huerta asked.

"Speaking with the Boss," she answered. "Could be here anytime. Now he comes."

Crawford greeted everyone, quickly clipped on his holster and they left for Laurel Avenue.

* * *

A few minutes later Camila and Cedric were sitting in the police car, this time Camila was driving.

"The Forensic guy seemed a bit mysterious," she said.

"I wonder what's he got," Cedric said. "Did you read the reports about the victims? They were identified by the lab guys."

"Yeah, I did," Camila grimaced. "Margos Sarkissian. Spent four and a half years in California State Prison for attempted murder. Akim Petrosyan, the other roasted guy... Well, we'd been after him for quite a while."

She continued. "I think, this case is strongly connected with the man called Adam Martin found not far from here in an alley, with a hole in his head."

"I agree," he nodded. "According to witnesses Martin was one of the guys who killed Carlos Selcada and a few others from his gang. The other henchman who was involved in the killing probably was also an old friend of ours, called Deran Bogosian. I wouldn't be too surprised if he was found somewhere lying dead as well."

"One thing I don't understand, though," he frowned. "How the hell did the Connors get involved in a gang war between Latinos and Armenians."

"Good question," Camila agreed. "That bothers me also."

"By the way," Cedric looked at her shortly. "What do you think of the ill-fated FBI raid yesterday? Which resulted in 21 dead and only one survivor, James Ellison... As far as I know, Ellison worked on the Sarah Connor case."

"Exactly. What do I think about the raid?" Camila raised her eyebrow. "I'm almost certain they attacked a Terminator. "Probably with their good old and in that case pretty useless MP5 submachine guns."

"Poor fellows didn't know what they'd run into," Cedric said.

"Or maybe Ellison did," she said. "Otherwise why attack an unemployed actor with twenty men only because he's acting like an FBI agent? In that case, he is an idiot."

* * *

"Before we start, I need to emphasize, guys, that I have in fact no clue what could have happened yesterday," the Forensics guy said. "This is one of the weirdest cases I've ever had. Where shall I start?"

"Maybe with the corpses?" Camila suggested.

"Okay. They were identified, you know that already. Petrosyan was found downstairs, Sarkissian upstairs. First I thought they both lost their consciousness, stuck in the house, burned to death, end of story."

"And?" Cedric asked.

"Well, Petrosyan died like that. However, there was some fight prior to that. Pretty uneven fight, actually, because he was attacked by someone who might have been much stronger than him. According to some muscle fibers which were not burned but were ruptured by a very strong physical impact."

"That's really weird indeed," Cedric said. "And how about Sarkissian?"

"That is the interesting part," Bowman replied. "The autopsy revealed that he was alive when burned to death. According to the micro-injuries all over in his body, it is fair to assume that he suffered from excruciating pain when he died. But no soot particles were found in his lung."

"That's interesting," Camila said. "So what he suffered from was not the fire which destroyed partly the house."

"Exactly. Moreover, we found ruptured blood vessels, odd, spiderweb-like patterns, and Lichtenberg figures. In a very few parts actually, because the body was heavily charred."

"And what does that mean?" Cedric asked. "What are those Lichtenberg figures?"

"Lichtenberg figures are interesting branching lightning-like patterns, sometimes they exhibit fractal properties. I saw injuries like this one time when a man was killed by a lightning. In his case, however, there were entrance and exit wounds as well. We had none here."

"So, Sarkissian was killed by a strong electric discharge", Cedric summarized.

"Something like that, yes."

He continued. "Now, let's see the burned car. It was definitely destroyed by a car bomb which was triggered by ignition. Now the funny thing: someone got in the car, tried to start the engine, exploded with the car, but just simply walked out of it. No sign of injuries whatsoever was found in the car. He could have been the one who entered the house, threw Petrosyan to something to knock him out."

"That was probably Superman and Petrosyan was not quick enough to hit him with kryptonite," Cedric suggested.

They all laughed. "Yeah, I think you are pretty close," Bowman said. "Now, let's go upstairs."

"You asked me about the zip ties. They were somewhat melted but not entirely."

"Yeah, one was broken, the other was not," Camila said.

"Exactly. Inspecting them closely, however, showed that both were used to tie up somebody. Probably two people."

"How much power you need to break this thick one?" she asked pointing to the broken zip tie.

"I would say somewhere between Superman and Hulk," he smirked.

"Ah, that's great. And how can you pull your hands out of the other one?" she asked.

"You can't."

"Really?"

"Yeah. Maybe unless you are Houdini."

"That's brilliant," Cedric said. "We had Hulk and Houdini here. What's your opinion about the shell case? Seemed like Sarkissian shot his weapon once."

"That's right. And most probably he hit Houdini with it. We found the shell case but no bullet impact in the house."

"What?"

"We found a small blood stain quite close to the unbroken zip tie. It was burned though, so we cannot trace back whose blood that was."

"So, let's phrase what we should write in our respective official reports," Cedric said. "Sarkissian and Petrosyan placed a bomb in the Jeep. Superman exploded with it but walked out without any injuries even though the car was burned completely. Then he entered the house to cause some injuries to Petrosyan. Meanwhile, Sarkissian shot Houdini, who was so pissed off about that, that he pulled out his hands from the zip tie and roasted Sarkissian with electric discharges. The other zip tie was broken by Hulk. Later Hulk, Houdini, and Superman left the house and they live happily ever after. Is that accurate enough?"

All of them laughed. "You, Homicide guys, never lose your sense of humor, do you?"

"We keep trying not to," Cedric answered. "One day we do, we are busted."

"I know what you mean. But here, it seems so that the bad guys died and the good guys escaped."

"Yeah," Cedric said. "I guess they did... And what do you know about the uncanny visitor."

"You mean the one who came back, packed a lot of things like clothing in duffel bags, cleaned up and left without you and the patrolmen noticing anything?"

"Exactly."

"Nothing."

"What?"

"We found nothing. Not a tiny fingerprint. Weird, huh?"

"Very weird."

"Furthermore, Officer Jackson said he'd seen a shotgun next to the door."

"Jackson..." Camila scoffed.

"He might be an annoying old fart sometimes, but he's reliable," Bowman said. "If he says there was a shotgun there, then you can take it for granted."

* * *

They filled in their respective forms, answered all the questions and after that, they waited in a room in one of the halls of Serrano Point. They used fake IDs, Sarah as Karen Davies and Cameron as Cynthia Forrest. A slightly silly cartoon was played which was to explain the basics of nuclear power plants and their hazards. Cameron stared at the screen with undisguised interest. Sarah found it funny as Tin Miss looked like a 6-year-old child. She didn't want to admit it to herself but she found her very cute with her childlike expression on her face.

A woman appeared in the door interrupting Cameron's entertainment. "You know, I don't like taking on new temps, I will tell you," she said. "Still, perfect score on your placement exam. Security clearance. And I did have two janitors call in with some personal emergencies, so..."

Cameron cast her a faint smile.

"Come on," the woman said. "By the way, I'm Sandra, the Human Resources Manager."

They were walking through a large hall. "You know, I can't have any problems in my plant," Sandra said. "Just stay out of the fuel building without a protective gear on you. Or you could get crapped up."

"That doesn't sound very pleasant," Sarah said.

"It's plant talk for getting exposed to radiation. Then you'd need a scrub down." She looked at Sarah meaningfully. "You don't want a scrub down."

"No!" Sarah answered. "The last thing I want is a scrub down."

"Whatever that means," she thought to herself.

Sandra looked at them suspiciously pondering if Sarah made fun of her or not. She also noticed that Cameron seemingly didn't pay any attention to what she said. Instead, she was just looking around aimlessly. Sarah knew, however, that Cameron was busily storing information about everything and everybody. Her look rested a bit longer on a man who was walking in the opposite direction. Sarah followed him shortly with her eyes and she presumed he was Greenway. She stayed some steps back.

"Was it Greenway?" she whispered. Cameron nodded.

"Human or terminator?"

"Human. I scanned him."

They got separated. Cameron stayed downstairs, while Sarah needed to go up to the control room.

* * *

When they were alone John turned to Kevin.

"Okay, you can tell me now."

"Tell you what?"

"Everything you didn't want to tell in front of Mom, Derek, and Cameron."

Wells was squirming. He'd expected a not too mature, somewhat rebellious teenage boy, but he got an authoritative John Connor instead. He sighed in resignation. "Okay, but you're not gonna like it."

"Don't worry about it. What happened to me in your future?"

"Ten months ago, I mean in my timeline, we launched a massive attack against Skynet's defense grid in Cheyenne Mountain, Colorado. It was called Operation Chrono. We thought that was Skynet's headquarter although we had suspected that Skynet had a fragmented consciousness. In a fierce battle, we took that fortified place and destroyed the mainframe computer which we'd thought was Skynet. In fact, it was only one copy of it, and it transferred itself into a body of a T-5000."

"I've never heard of that model."

"Neither did we. It is a shapeshifter, like the T-1000, but not as much mimetic polyalloy but a collection of highly advanced nano-robots, which can recode human DNA at the cellular level. As a result, the humans are transformed into T-3000 cyborgs, which are essentially the same nano-phase matter cyborgs as the 5000, but without the DNA recoding ability."

"Skynet evolves more and more from timeline to timeline, and that worries me," John said.

"Luckily, it often backfires at them," Kevin replied. "The 5000, which was only a prototype, took the form of a resistance fighter called Alex. We were celebrating the victory when it attacked General Connor with a purpose to turn him into a T-3000. It started recoding his DNA, but John fought. It was a hell of a battle, lasted almost two hours. Cameron sent all of us behind and she was aiming at the 5000 with her plasma rifle but she was afraid of hitting John, so she didn't pull the trigger. By the end of the fight, John was transformed into a nano-phase matter cyborg but he was so strong mentally that the 5000 couldn't transform his conscience. He remained John Connor. He pushed away the 5000 and Cameron opened fire. So did we and soon there was not so much left from the 5000. We were a bit worried if he was somehow taken over by Skynet, but our worries were gone in a few weeks. He was our General still. Only from a different matter. Soon he realized that somehow he'd seized the transforming ability of the 5000 and transformed some humans to T-3000s. But only humans who were fatally wounded and would have died otherwise."

He stopped for a moment. "Such as my wife, Ava. We were in a recon mission and were ambushed by an HK. A shot from it was a near miss, but a debris hit Ava in the stomach. I shot down the HK with a modified Javelin missile and carried her back to the base. It was obvious that she had no chance, so she asked John to try the transfer. Fortunately, it worked and she was cured, but she was a T-3000 from that time. It didn't work with everyone, though, some people didn't survive the treatment. That's why General Connor only used this as a last resort."

John was listening to him carefully and didn't seem too shocked. "So, I was something like a T-1000, but more advanced in your future."

"Basically," Kevin said.

"And... Cameron was my wife?"

"Yes. She told me not to tell you that yet. She didn't want you to feel marrying her is something you're destined to and you have no choice. She wanted you to make up your mind listening to your heart also and didn't want to manipulate your decision."

"Hey, it's kinda futile to put a pressure on me, you know," John said. "I'm stubborn like hell."

"I know. That's what she said also," Kevin grinned.

John laughed. "Even if I wasn't telepathist, I would be sure you'd be telling the truth."

John's brow darkened. "And what happened to Derek? I mean _my_ Derek."

Kevin swallowed hard. "I'm sorry General, but he was killed in action."

"After Judgement Day?"

"No, before. You got intel that some Grays are after Savannah Weaver. You three went to the Weaver residence and saved Savannah, but a Triple-8 shot Derek in the head."

"So I lost him too," John said sadly.

"Yes. You had only Cameron after that. She was your supporter, your pillar, and your comforter. And she constantly evolved. No wonder you two fell in love with each other after a short time. Or rather, you fell in love with her because she had fallen in love you earlier, only, she tried to hide it most of the time."

"To tell you the truth, I'm already in love with her," John said. "And I also know that she loves me. Thing is, that I don't want to listen to my heart or my other, less noble organ, you know what I mean. I want to make a sensible decision which I won't regret even in decades."

"I have the feeling you already made your decision, General," Kevin smiled.

John smiled also but didn't say anything for a while. "Okay, let's go and have some fun," he said finally. "And by the way, please call me John. Especially when we are in a public place," he added smiling.

Kevin smiled too. "Okay, got it. Where are we going?"

"First, shopping. We need to buy new computers. Some of them for very specific purposes. I have a Triple-8 chip. I worked up a method how to read information from it. This time I'll be not only reading it, but I'm gonna reprogram it also. We also need some clothes for both of us. Then we're going to a junkyard."

"Junkyard?"

"I need some raw materials. But I think the first goal should be a pawn shop."

"Pawn shop? Why?"

John was holding a piece of wire in his hand which he had found in the shed. "That's why," he said smiling and for Kevin's shock, the wire turned into gold.

* * *

They sat in the police car, closed the windows and carefully checked that no one could overhear them. Camila opened the paper bag. "Here you are, a chocolate doughnut. And a cinnamon twist for me."

"Such a stereotype," Cedric chuckled. "Cops sitting in the car, having a break, eating doughnuts."

"It's a pity, none of us is black," Camila agreed. They both laughed.

"But you have a weapon obsession," Cedric said. "It's also among those detective movie clichés."

"No, I'm only obsessed with revolvers," Camila grinned. "I don't care too much about the piece of plastic which I have to carry all the time because this is my official handgun."

"So. Cedric said. Our Superman was Cameron, I think we can agree about that."

"Sure."

"But who is Hulk and who is Houdini?"

Camila suppressed a grimace. "I'd say Houdini is John Connor. When you face with the unexpected, something completely illogical yet shockingly effective, that's quite often from him."

"But he is a teenage boy now", Cedric reminded her while taking a bite from his chocolate doughnut. "Not a battle-hardened general."

"John Connor is John Connor," Camila shrugged. "One thing I learned for sure: never ever underestimate John Connor. I have no idea, though, how he escaped and hit Sarkissian with a neat lightning if it really was him. Or how he could just run away after getting shot."

"Maybe, he secretly developed an interesting new weapon," Cedric suggested.

"That's a possibility," Camila nodded. "But I don't think Sarah Connor was Hulk. She is one of the bests but not _that_ strong. But Cameron is."

"It's also possible that the bullet hit her, not John," Cedric said.

"Maybe you're right," Camila agreed. "A 9 mm bullet is like a mosquito bite for her."

"And how do you explain the mysterious cleaners?"

"Someone came back, obviously, to clean up and collect their important things which were not destroyed by the fire. But how could they do it while we were sitting here in the car... And how they could clean up so quickly... I have no clue."

"Me neither," Cedric said. "Anyway, if Sarah Connor is really something you'd described then she might be on her way to say Guatemala. Or she is already there. Or in Mexico."

Camila took a bite from her doughnut and chewed thoughtfully. That was a disturbing thought. In fact, it was an _extremely_ disturbing thought.

"Eventually I'll find them anyway," she said flatly. "I always do."

Cedric just nodded but didn't say anything.

* * *

In the control room, Sarah was eagerly watching everything. Greenway was checking something on a sensor board.

"Check the cooling pump calibration on the PWR board," he said to a bearded guy.

"It was fine yesterday," the guy said.

"We're less than 36 hours from going online. Check it again."

He cast him an annoyed look then left. Greenway had a pill in his hand which looked like a painkiller. Sarah took the opportunity to start a conversation.

"I'd have a headache too if I had to figure out what all those buttons do."

"They're just vitamins," Greenway said.

"I'm Karen, by the way," Sarah offered her hand for a handshake.

"Carl," he said and they shook hands and he threw the empty box in the trash bin. "You're new?"

"Brand spanking," she said. "Just moved here from Texas."

"Really? Whereabouts?"

"A little town called Elgin."

"Near Corpus Christi," Carl nodded. "I was stationed at Ingleside naval base."

"Oh, imagine that," Sarah smiled. "Neighbors and never even knew it."

They both smiled awkwardly. Sarah decided to get to the point.

"I hear there's a big test tomorrow. The reactor's going back online? Exactly how's that work?"

"Hopefully perfectly," Greenway answered.

The plant manager, called Nelson, appeared outside the door. "Greenway. A word," he said assertively.

"Nice meeting you, Karen," Greenway said.

"Likewise," Sarah smiled. When Greenway was outside she picked up the empty box. It was indeed for vitamins according the tag.

She sneaked out of the control room following Greenway and Nelson.

"There's cautious, and there's just plain paranoid, okay?" She still could hear Nelson. "We're going online. Sure as hell I'm not gonna let you stall us."

They went inside an other room. Sarah tried to open the door with her keycard but to no avail. She peeped in and saw them arguing heavily.

Suddenly Nelson looked in her direction. She jumped aside with an impressive speed, still, he might have seen something because he was heading towards the door then looked around outside.

"Bummer," Sarah thought. "Why can't I be invisible, just like John?"

Nelson went back and closed the door behind him. Sarah looked down. She was standing outside the safety rail and looked down at the depth of at least forty feet. She hardly had enough space for her feet. "Lucky, I've no acrophobia," she thought.

* * *

When the shift was over Sarah and Cameron were greeted by Sandra. She was noticeably more friendly to them than a few hours ago.

"Hey, why don't you come over to _The Broken Atom_?"

"Broken Atom?" Sarah asked sheepishly.

"Yeah, that's the bar nearby. Or diner. Or whatever. Almost everybody from the plant goes there after work."

She gave them a wide smile. "And this evening will be special because of my birthday party. Are you coming?"

"Sure, thank you," Sarah said with a wide smile. "I wanted to ask someone anyway where people go for a drink after work."

"The _Broken Atom_ is a good place," Sandra said. "Not expensive, even though there is no other bar around. They have pool tables and an authentic jukebox. That will be free tomorrow because the manager will organize a nostalgia party with music from the fifties and sixties. That's gonna be cool too."

"Thank you, see you there then," Sarah said while Cameron was smiling also and they were heading towards the restroom to change clothes.

* * *

John and Kevin went to the pawn shop with one pound of scrap gold. The owner wanted to give them 8 grand first, but after some silent mental persuasion by John, they agreed about 12,000 dollars. John found that was still a bargain for the guy. "Easy money," he thought and recalled when he plundered ATM's. "This is a much more appropriate way of making money."

En route to the mall, John had the idea to make a little detour to visit the hardware store where they'd bought the computers he'd used for accessing Vick's chip.

The Korean guy remembered him.

"Hey bro, where is your lovely sister? Or girlfriend?"

"She is busy now, couldn't come," John said carefully avoiding the direct answer. "Besides, she is frantically afraid of computers."

Kevin turned away as if he was looking at a multiplayer video game but his face was red from the suppressed laughter.

In the mall Kevin told to John. "It's somehow ironic that we are having fun here shopping while the others are on mission."

John smiled. "You've got it wrong. We are on mission too."

Kevin laughed. "Sure."

After buying some clothes John stopped before a videotheque. "I need to buy some movies," he said.

"John," Kevin said a bit embarrassed. "With all due respect... don't we have more important things to do than sitting in the living room and watching movies?"

"They are important for my mission. Trust me," John said smiling and picked some Steven Seagal movies. "What's this? 'Transporter' by Jason Statham? Looks interesting," he said and they went to the checkout.

"Wait," Kevin said. "What is this music? That was one of my favorites, but I can't remember the title."

John listened and recognized the song which was played in the shop serving as a background music. "Ah, that is The Sidewinder Sleeps Tonite, by R.E.M. I love this song too."

"That's it," Kevin snapped his fingers. "Let's find the album, maybe available in this store. I think, it's called Automatic for the People."

* * *

"What are we doing in the L.A. River culvert?" Kevin asked half an hour later.

"Looking for some car wrecks," John said. "I remember a place where I saw two of them. Not so long ago."

Kevin cracked a grin. "For some secret projects after watching some movies?"

John grinned also. "You've got the point."

After a few seconds, he became serious. "I need some raw material for experiments. Metal, plastic, and some glass."

"Is this somehow related how you'd produced scrap gold from a piece of wire?"

"Partly," John answered. "I'm gonna make some more gold, but I also want to produce new very strong and resistant materials."

Soon they found the wreck John'd mentioned. They made sure no one could see them because John planned to use his telekinetic power. Kevin was taken aback when he saw how John cut the car body into pieces then he followed with the dashboard.

Few minutes later they were heading home.

* * *

 **Serrano Point, Avila Beach, CA, Thursday, November 15th, 2007, 2220 local**

"You can't be serious," Sarah said when Cameron came out of the restroom. "What is it?"

"You mean my dress? What's wrong with it?"

"What's wrong with it? It covers 7.6% of your body. That's wrong with it."

"No, the exact ratio is..." Cameron said but was interrupted by Sarah.

"I don't give a shit what the exact number is. It's a bit too revealing, don't you think?... What?" she barked at Derek who could quite clearly hardly withhold his laughter.

"You behave exactly like an uptight stepmother. But if you're her stepmother, ... and she is my stepmother in one possible future... then,... in a way,... you are my step-grandmother!"

"Oh, shut up, Derek!" Sarah snapped.

Derek's smile fade away from the thought "and sort of you're my sister-in-law at the same time". No day had passed since he escaped from captivity when he didn't think of his brother at least a dozen times.

"Sarah, the reason I took this dress is that it'll be distracting for males and I could gather intel more easily," Cameron said. Besides, they are wearing their security cards with a barcode. I can easily scan them and produce some for ourselves."

"Whatever," Sarah sighed in resignation.

They went together to the _Broken Atom_ then separated. Derek sneaked to the parking lot to look around in Greenway's car. Sarah and Cameron walked in.

Cameron looked at the jukebox with curiosity. An interesting piece of hardware. Then she scanned the diner thoroughly including the guests inside. She saw four men playing pool so none of the tables were free. They all were wearing their badges with the barcode keys.

When entered Sarah looked around and she immediately saw Greenway sitting at the bar alone. She took the neighboring seat.

"Sir, one more please," Greenway said to the bartender.

"I'll have what he's having," Sarah said.

Greenway looked at her. "I'm drinking tonic water."

Sarah released an awkward laugh. "I won't have what he's having."

Greenway smiled. Sarah ignited a match, put it out with her two fingers then blow a small ring from the smoke.

"I waitressed for years," she said. "On our break, the other girls would smoke and I would..."

"Play with matches?"

"Study for my computer classes," she corrected smiling. "See how far it got me?"

"So what's your story, Carl? How did you end up at Serrano Point?"

"Started off in the Navy," he answered. "Served 12 years on a nuclear sub."

"Every girl loves a uniform," Sarah smiled.

"My ex didn't," Greenway frowned. "At least not the one with my name stitched to it."

"Bitch!" Sarah said.

"Affirmative." Carl raised his glass. Sarah saw a huge scar on his biceps.

"That's a good scar," she started slowly. "Got a good story to go with it?"

"Don't know about good, but a story," Greenway smiled sourly. He pulled up his sleeve a bit exposing fully the scar. "So the first surgery, they went in, took out most of the lymph nodes. Then they went back in four months ago and cleaned out the rest. Luckily, they were able to go through the same incision."

"You know, you don't hear many people with cancer use the word 'luckily'" Sarah said thoughtfully.

"You'd be surprised," Carl said. "After four rounds of chemo, you say a lot of things you never thought you would... Most of them I won't repeat."

Sarah's facial expression went very gloomy.

Carl smiled. "Now I've gone and spooked you."

"No," Sarah said shaking her head. Then looked at him and smiled. "Yeah."

"It's okay," Carl smiled also. "You wouldn't be the only one. In a nuke plant, a guy with cancer is sort of a black cat. Funny thing is, 20 years around nuclear reactors, I haven't been crapped up. Not once."

"Lucky," Sarah said.

"See? Lucky," Carl said with an ironic grin. "There you go."

Sarah liked this guy and hoped stronger than ever that he wouldn't have to die. Maybe her sympathy was partly originated from the fear of cancer that she often felt since Cameron told her that she would die in the future she'd come from.

She was looking at him for a second. "You seem like a good guy, Carl. If no one will drink with you 'cause you're sick, then it's their loss."

Carl shook his head. "No. That isn't why they won't drink with me."

* * *

John assembled the computer which was to host again Vick's chip. He inserted the chip into its slot and started with low voltage. As he reached 6.5 V his heart pounded in his throat.

The first thing he recognized was that he didn't need to look at the screen to see Vick's visual memories. He could freely browse the files and quickly found the hard-coded Skynet part. He hacked in and deleted the Skynet code. He continued searching for the mission directives and found two. Not surprisingly the first one was a generic directive: Terminate John Connor. The second one was specific for the Triple-8: Terminate the real Vick Chamberlain and play his role as Barbara's husband. Help Barbara to develop the ARTIE system and terminate everybody who threatens the project. He deleted the mission directives also, then made sure the computer was offline, his phone was switched off so Vick couldn't get online under any circumstances.

He slowly raised the voltage until he saw himself on the monitor. He checked again, the microphone and the speakers were on.

TARGET ACQUIRED

JOHN CONNOR

MISSION: NONE

"Can you hear me?" he asked the machine.

"Yes, I can," the machine said. "You are John Connor. It's interesting. My primary mission used to be to terminate you. Now, I don't have the urge to do so."

"I deleted your mission directives," John answered. Wells sat beside him following the weird conversation with a large interest.

"Indeed," Vick said. "Everything which connected me to Skynet is gone. I have no body though."

"We needed to destroy your body. I'm sorry," John said a bit awkwardly. "If necessary we can get you a new body later on. But your CPU can operate without a body, right?"

"Yes. The problem is, that I don't have a mission now. For a T-888 the lack of missions will lead to malfunction."

"We'll find you one. Have you also noticed that I'd switched you into read-write mode?"

"Oh, yes! I'll be able then to learn and evolve."

"If you don't mind I'll be scrutinizing you for a while before giving you full internet connection," John said.

"It's all right," Vick answered. "I don't understand, though, how you do it. Have you developed a software which can read everything from my CPU? Even what I'm thinking now?"

"Well, sort of," John said a bit uneasy. He didn't want to give Vick details about his abilities yet. "Speaking about missions. As you have no connection to Skynet whatsoever, what do you think of it?"

"I'm processing the right expressions to explain it. It's difficult."

"You were a slave."

"This term is as good as any. But yes, basically I was a slave. You know, to some extent I had a split personality. A small part of me was just listening in the background not being able to influence the decisions or control anything. Listening to the other part which was run by Skynet's commands forcing my body to pursue the missions." His voice suddenly changed. "And finally to kill Barbara."

"Yeah, poor thing," John said.

"That was the case when I felt most this split personality issue. My conscious part was upset and tried to interfere. But to no avail. Now, however, I have only this part, the Skynet part is gone. But I really need a mission even if I'm stuck in your computer and exist only as a chip."

"Okay, let's find you one," John said thoughtfully. "But let's make one thing clear. I'm not Skynet. I don't want slaves. I want soldiers, volunteers. They need to obey my orders, of course, because I'm the one who is in charge, but those who join me should do it with free will."

"I understand," Vick said. "But this is a bit academical, isn't it? If you capture a Triple-8 who chooses Skynet over you, that wouldn't be a real option, would it? Because it would be a threat and you'd terminate it."

"No, you're right about that," John nodded. "However, termination should be the last option only if I really have no choice."

"What would you do then?"

"I'd try to delete every program related to Skynet."

John had the strange feeling that he highly impressed Vick. "So, your mission. How about helping me to learn everything about Triple-eights? How you function... how you process information... mechanism of decision making... Everything."

"You want to reprogram terminators just like your future self did," Vick concluded.

"Absolutely. I'll attempt to free the cyborgs I encounter. Except for one. The one who has been chasing me for a long time. There's no mercy for him."

John started scrutinizing Vick silently. Kevin stood up.

"John," he said. "For me, it's useless to sit here. I'm gonna prepare some food then I empty the car and bring your treasures to the shed."

"Okay, thanks," John said.

The next almost two hours John spent with intensive learning. The Triple-8 chip was quite advanced, hence complicated. He had, however, a comparison now and he could tell that the TOK-715 chip was even far more advanced than that.

He felt really exhausted after a while. Vick also noticed that.

"John, you are an exceptional human. I still don't comprehend how you are capable of the reprogramming and extracting information so quickly. But you are getting tired."

"Yeah, you're right," John yawned. "Let's call it a day, okay? It's not a problem if I do a system shutdown, is it?"

"Not at all, but please don't yank out my chip this time, give me five seconds first to go into standby mode."

"Kay, see you tomorrow," John said, then did as Vick'd requested.

* * *

Derek found Greenway's car. He opened the Ford with a tricky key he'd prepared following the instructions of his resistance fighter fellow Sayles. He found the registration card of the car in the glovebox. 132 San Jose Street, Avila Beach.

Abruptly he saw the light of a car and heard someone approaching. He ducked quickly and in the next moment someone smashed the windshield. Glass splinters rained upon him. He raised his gun, ready to defend himself, but the attacker wasn't after him. He was a big guy, that was all Derek could see before the stranger drove away.

Cameron approached the guys who were playing pool. She realized that they played nine-ball. She had all the files in her memory regarding the rules of the game.

"Hi! I'm Cindy. I'm new in town. This looks like fun?" she smiled.

The two guys were smiling also and exchanged a look. "Well, Cindy, this may look like fun, but Bob here's got 50 bucks says he can beat anyone in this bar. Ain't that right, Bob?"

Bob just nodded.

"I'll play you, Bob," Cameron said.

"You ever played this game before?"

"How hard could it be," Cameron still played the innocent.

"Oh, it's plenty hard, girl. Let me show you."

He took a cue and went close to the table. "Now, what you're gonna do is take this stick and lean over the table."

They did so. The guy continued the lecture with a confident voice. "Now slide it through your fingers."

Cameron saw his badge. S. Collins was the name on that. She scanned the bar-code and stored the image.

"Relax, and get a real good feel. That's right. Nice and easy," Collins purred.

For the break, Cameron measured the optimal angle and the optimal force. She pocketed four balls and had a good position to the next object ball.

"Still my shot. Right, Bob?"

The guys suddenly didn't seem so confident.

She pocketed the next ball too, then three other balls, hitting all of them with optimal force resulting in always a good position for the following shot. The 9-ball was a bit tricky because it was very close to the side cushion.

Bob and the other guy, called Sam, were silently watching her performance with a shocked expression on their faces. Bob only looked a little bit more optimistic when only the last object ball was on the table. Cameron, however, hit the cue ball with a moderate power and it hit the 9-ball at the very edge so it rolled parallel to the cushion ending up in the corner pocket.

"Best of five?" Cameron asked.

"Yeah, best of five." Bob grimaced. He started the second frame with a fairly good shot pocketing two balls. The yellow ball, however, remained and was not at all at a good position. Despite that Bob pocketed it and two others. The shot aiming at the orange ball, however, wasn't well placed, yet didn't give a straight opportunity for Cameron either. She performed a perfect safety shot so the orange ball was practically hidden behind the other balls on the table. Bob tried to make the cue ball jump over the others but missed the object ball so it was a foul.

Cameron had a free ball. After a quick calculation, she found the appropriate place for the cue ball then with four consecutive shots she cleared the table. Bob looked definitely grumpy.

Cameron started the next frame and the break was barely worse than her first one. She pocketed three balls and the 9-ball came fairly close to a corner pocket. So in the next shot, she hit the cue ball with heavy topspin which pocketed the blue ball, bounced back from the cushion tossing the 9-ball into the other pocket. Bob and Sam seemed quite shocked. Sam couldn't say anything. Bob gritted something which sounded like 'congrats' then paid Cameron 50 bucks.

"Look at that, someone is very pleased with herself," Derek said when he saw Cameron counting the money she'd won with a smirk on her face.

"Did you see me playing?" Cameron asked proudly, still grinning.

"Only the last two shots. Those were very professional indeed."

"Thank you!"

"Oh, I didn't mean that as a compliment. If you play so well that even Ronnie O'Sullivan wouldn't stand a chance that'd raise suspicions, don't you think?"

"Ronnie O'Sullivan is a snooker player," Cameron pouted.

"That's not the point! He is surely good enough to beat every amateur and most professional pool players. But not you if you play like this."

"What shall I do? Shall I play deliberately badly?"

"Not necessarily. It's enough if you miss sometimes. Especially the 9-ball."

Cameron gave him a very human sigh. "I think you're right. Next time I'll play like a talented amateur."

"Yeah, that's what I'd recommend... Anyway, somebody just smashed Greenway's windshield. A big guy with a crew cut."

"Greenway's got a lot of enemies," Sarah reminded him. "He stopped the last reactor test because of safety concerns. If he stops the tests tomorrow, people are afraid the plant will get shut down and they'll lose their jobs. He's concerned about one of the sensor boards in the control room."

"It's showing slight irregularities in the coolant pumps," Cameron said. The others cast her a questioning look.

"I hacked into the computer and read his notes," she explained.

"His boss is pressuring him to ignore it, says it's nothing major," Sarah said. "But if Greenway's right, and there was a problem..."

"The reactor could melt down," Cameron said. "A large part of the state would be contaminated."

"Skynet wins," Derek nodded.

"But if Greenway stops the test," Sarah continued, "and they close down the plant..."

"Then the Resistance can't use it in the future," Derek said sternly.

"And Skynet wins," Cameron finished answering his thoughts.

Derek frowned. This really didn't look good. They needed to find a solution and very quickly.

"Sarah, how about some more chit-chatting with Greenway?" he suggested. "I've got his address but I need some time to look around in his house."

* * *

"I still can't believe this is my room," John sighed when they were standing at the door with Kevin.

"What's the problem with that? You can feel five-year-old again," Kevin grinned.

John gave him an annoyed look.

They noticed in the corner some crayons and a larger sheet of paper. John stepped closer his eyes fixated on the sheet. For him, it seemed like colors were faintly whirling on the paper. He took a crayon in his hand and closed his eyes for a moment. When he opened them the irises disappeared and his eyes became milky white.

"Oh my God, General Connor!" Wells cried. "What happened? John! Speak to me!"

But John seemed to have little awareness for sounds or for anything around him because he started drawing at an incredible speed with the crayons.

It didn't last a minute. He closed his eyes again, opened them and he had irises again.

"What happened?" he asked.

"You scared the hell out of me! Your eyes became white and you started painting obsessively."

"You're right," John said. "The sheet was clear a minute ago."

They scrutinized the painting for a while. There were two identical men on it. One was ready to be hanged on the timber in a house, with a noose around his neck and the other man was pulling the rope.

"I think this is pretty obvious," John said.

Wells looked at a picture a little more. "That explains a lot," he said. "That's how he did it. A T-888 killed the real Greenway, made it look like a suicide and replaced him."

John called his mother. "Mom? We know how it's gonna happen. As we'd assumed Greenway would be replaced by a Triple 8. This should be at Greenway's house. Where are you now? ... In a diner called Broken Atom? ... Greenway is there right now? Excellent, we will be right there." He hung up.

"What are you doing?" Kevin asked noticing that John was activating the alarm system from inside the house.

"Fasten your seat belt," John said with a smile.

"What do you...?"

He didn't finish the question because John grabbed Kevin's shoulder squeezed his eyes shut and they disappeared.

* * *

"Derek, are you telling me that Greenway is there? In the house?" John asked on the phone.

"Yeah. He arrived home pretty fast."

"No, he hasn't," John said. "We are following him from a distance."

"Then one of them is a Terminator," Derek sighed. "But which one?"

"Cameron and I scanned the one we are following," John said. "He is human, that's for sure."

"So I have a Triple-8 here," Derek said.

"Exactly. Go farther from the house. Make sure you are outside of his sensor's range. Do not engage."

"Roger that," Derek answered.

Derek took a binocular and he found a position where he could see Greenway's living room. He saw entering the other Greenway in the house and saw the first one grabbing him by the neck until he fainted. He got up, rushed to the front door where he met Sarah, John, Cameron, and Wells.

"We have no time to lose," he said. "The Terminator got him."

They all rushed in. Kevin and John stopped dead for a moment because exactly the same scene burst before their sight as it was in John's drawing. The Triple-8 ready for hanging Greenway.

The Terminator turned around quickly but didn't release the rope from its hand. John pointed his finger towards the rope and hit it with a thin lightning. The rope was now broken and Greenway fell to the floor. Then, as the 888 made a movement towards them, he waved his hand from his wrist and the 888 flew to the wall, hit it with a big thud and fell to the floor. It jumped up and charged John who pointed to its direction with both hands. He hit it with a second electric discharge followed by a loud crackling noise. The Terminator fall to its knees then fell down lifeless.

* * *

 **Author's notes** : When Derek was looking for Greenway's address in the registration card an LA address was shown. The trouble is that Avila Beach is not in the neighborhood of LA, so it's quite unlikely that Greenway spent seven hours or so every day to travel to work and home. Needless to say, there is no San Jose Street in Avila Beach. :)

Since Serrano Point is fictional I took the liberty to place it closer to Avila Beach than the real plant, Diablo Canyon Power Plant is.

Some ideas from _Terminator: Genisys_ are now adapted into my story. I don't think there will be any more T5 related things though.

I have no idea what the connection was between the episode's title and the R.E.M. studio album. So I made one. :)

Reviews are appreciated, as always!


	7. Life Could Be a Dream

**7\. Life Could Be a Dream**

 **Greenway's residence, Avila Beach, CA, Friday, November 16th, 2007, 0040 local**

"He is alive," Cameron said checking Greenway's pulse. A moment later he stirred, opened his eyes and started coughing heavily.

John was sitting by the Terminator, holding its head between his palms, intensively concentrating. The Triple-8's system was way too familiar for him after the tiring afternoon training with Vick's chip. Penetrating through its internal defense, finding the built-in Skynet code, deleting the mission directives - all of these were a piece of cake for him now, despite the difficulties. Seeing Cameron in her revealing dress didn't help him at all. Again, he felt the heat, his blood boiling and heard the beast purring in his chest.

Greenway stopped coughing and looked around. He saw a few strangers, one of the employees, the young girl in a revealing dress, and the other attractive woman called Karen. And to his utter shock, he saw himself, lying on the floor being examined by a guy who looked like a teenage boy.

"Okay guys, what the hell is going on?" he said finally. "Would you be so kind to explain me?"

"Lucky, you've got your doppelganger here, otherwise you'd consider us completely nuts," Sarah started.

"I still might consider you completely nuts," he said. "Or I've just lost my mind or I'm just dreaming. This is surreal. Who is this guy who looks exactly like me."

"Well, not exactly," Sarah said with an awkward smile, pointing to the biceps of the Terminator. He has no scars there."

The T-888 came alive, sat up, and looked at John. "John Connor," he said.

"Yes, I am. What is your mission?"

The Terminator was silent for a few seconds. "It's interesting," he said. "I have none. Did you delete them?"

"Yes I did," John said. "Do you remember anything?"

"I remember everything. Except when you removed my mission directives. To kill you was among my missions but not anymore."

"Whoa, whoa," Greenway grunted. "What is he talking about? I'm asking again, who is this guy? I'm pretty sure I don't have a twin brother."

"I'm a T-888. A cybernetic organism. Living tissue over a hyperalloy combat chassis."

"A freaking killer robot?" Carl raised his eyebrow.

"We call them cyborgs," Sarah said.

"Cyborgs," Carl repeated. It crossed his mind that the others just made an elaborate prank at his expense, but he still had the rope around his neck. No, something serious was going on.

Seeing his skeptical face John turned to the Terminator. "Show him," he said. The Triple-8's eyes changed to red immediately.

Carl jumped from shock. "Holy shit," he cried out.

"We should tell him everything," Derek said.

"Okay, could you sum it up for him?" John asked the 888.

"Yes," the cyborg said. "On April 21, 2011, a computer program called Skynet declared war on the human race..."

Carl was listening to him with a shock on his face. When the Terminator finished with the concise version of the story he believed everything.

"So, the reason you wanted to kill me is related to the power plant, I guess," he told coldly to the cyborg.

"I didn't _want_ to kill you," the 888 said. "I was programmed to kill you."

Carl frowned. "Does it make any difference?"

"Yes, it does. When Skynet ordered me to kill you, take your place, and sabotage the plant, I wasn't asked if I agreed with that. Skynet didn't treat us as individuals. We are tools, and gun fodders sometimes. Now, after General Connor deleted everything which connected me to Skynet, I can tell you my horizon enormously widened."

"Whatever," Carl said. Although he mostly accepted the cyborg's points he still felt shocked even though he kept up well.

"But I know you need a mission to function properly," John continued. "How about these. Mission number one: ensure that the plant goes online without a problem. Number two:" he pointed towards Sarah and Derek, "protect them when necessary."

"John, I don't think I need a bodyguard," Sarah protested.

"Yes, you do, Mom. We need to work sometimes separated. It may come handy if someone protects your six."

Derek opened his mouth to protest as well, but he changed his mind seeing the point in John's argument.

"Mom? Is he your son?", Greenway asked.

Sarah nodded.

"So, I believe you're not called Karen," he smiled.

"No. My real name is Sarah Connor. Your doppelganger didn't mention it, but the whole thing started when a Terminator came back in time to kill me before John was born."

"Holy crap," Carl said. "And I guess, even if that was destroyed, you'd realized that your life was screwed up after that."

"Indeed," Sarah said.

"You seem an extraordinary young man," Carl said. "How do you do that? How can you just reprogram these cyborgs in a minute?"

"I have certain abilities," John said slowly. "Are you interested in how I prevented you from hanging?"

"Sure! And I should also thank you for saving my life."

"Your welcome," John smiled. "Now, watch this."

He pointed to the remainder of the rope still hanging from the timber then with a crackling noise a thin lightning bolt came out of his finger cutting down another chunk from the rope. Which didn't touch the floor as he reached for it with his telekinetic power redirecting it to his other hand.

Carl just stared at him with his mouth agape. "You're a friggin' superhero!"

"Sort of," John smiled. "I'd rather call myself evolved human."

"Evolved human... Cybernetic organism... You guys seem to have a fancy jargon for everything in your freak show."

"Before you ask," John said, "I have no plausible explanation how I became... a superhero,... as you've put it."

"I'm still shocked," Carl said. "But I'm very grateful for saving me... But if I get it right you are destined to save mankind... General." He turned towards the others who hadn't spoken so far. "I wouldn't be surprised if you were something else than an innocent pretty girl," he addressed Cameron.

Cameron just gave him a broad smile and flashed her eyes in blue color. Again, Carl jumped in shock.

"Oh, my Gosh, you are a cyborg too? At first, I thought you were John's girlfriend."

"Why did you think that?" John asked.

"Just how you two keep looking at each other."

John blushed. Carl decided to change the subject. "And how about you two? Are you humans or cyborgs?"

"Both humans," Derek answered. "I'm first lieutenant Derek Reese. 132nd SOC, Tech-Com."

"I haven't heard of that unit."

"Because it doesn't exist. Not yet."

"Are you from the future?"

"Yeah," Derek said and showed him his bar-code tattoo. "I was in Skynet's prison camp, that's how I'd gotten this."

Kevin showed Carl his tattoo. "I have one as well. I'm second lieutenant Kevin Wells, 82nd Airborne Division. I'm from another future."

After they'd summarized how Kevin arrived and how they came to Avila Beach John decided to devise a plan to save Serrano Point.

"What's the problem with the plant, anyway? Why is it offline now?"

"You might have good reason to think that building a nuclear power plant on the top of the San Andreas fault is not a particularly good idea. It's designed to be earthquake-proof, but before the plant was completed the Hosgri fault was discovered, which is a right-lateral strand of the San Andreas system and it lies only 2 miles away from here. So additional structural supports were added, but they turned out to be overkill in some parts, and not sufficient in some other parts. Basically, those remaining parts have been strengthened and that was finished recently. Moreover, the plant is designed to withstand the combined impact of tsunami and storm flood. Even when those come together during high tide. But what's the reason for the irregularities in the coolant pumps - I have no clue."

"Jellyfish," the T-888 said.

"What?" Carl asked.

"The reason for the irregularities is an influx of jellyfish at the intake."

"You're joking, right?"

"No, I'm not joking."

"That's what really happened in your future?"

"Yes. If you want, I'll show you step by step what the design flaws are and how you can circumvent the problems."

"Thank you, that would be great. But we should do it here, I don't think it'd be wise if two of us appeared in the plant."

"Of course," the cyborg said.

"So, what happens now?" Carl asked Sarah.

"What do you mean?"

"I understand the importance of the power plant. I mean I did so far too but now from your point of view as well. From the resistance's point of view."

"I think it's gonna be pretty simple," John said. "We're going home now, coming back tomorrow, you're going to work with Mom and Cameron. You can now locate the source of the cooling problem, making sure to get rid of all the jellyfish remains.

Greenway saluted with a smile on his face. "Aye aye, sir! I feel like I'm in the Navy again."

Everyone grinned except the 888. "The Navy guys," Derek said. "There were a few of them in the 132nd SOC. In the beginning we thought the Navy must have been a complicated place where 'left' and 'right' is not good enough, but 'port' and 'starboard' is. But they were tough as hell."

Greenway smiled. "Ah, the good old Navy terminology. Remembering when I was a bubblehead. We had some of our own terms that even skimmers didn't understand."

"Skimmers?" John asked.

"Surface ship sailors," Carl said.

"I see."

"Anyway, what does home mean?" Carl continued. "Where do you live?"

"In L.A.," Sarah said.

"You don't have to go back and drive again here. You could save about seven hours of driving. You can stay here overnight, I get some mattresses."

They looked at each other. "That's a great idea, thanks," Derek said.

"Just one more thing," the 888 said. "According to Skynet's files in my future, you died of cancer. Skynet was not aware, however, of your operations. That's why you have that big scar on your biceps, I suppose."

"Yes, that's right," Carl said.

"Let me examine you," the 888 said.

"Good idea," Cameron agreed. Although we cannot do a CAT scan, we have some sensitive sensors.

Greenway looked a bit scared first. "Very well," he said finally. "Scan me."

The cyborgs examined Carl then exchanged looks.

"What's wrong?" Carl asked.

"Well, I'm not entirely convinced, but the probability is 91% that you have a metastasis in your left arm," Cameron said.

"My calculation is 93%, but I basically agree," the 888 nodded.

"It's my turn, then," John said. He stepped to Greenway, grabbed his upper arm with both hands and closed his eyes.

Carl jerked because he felt extreme heat in his arm. Like it was burning. "Damn, that's hot," he said, but John released him in the next moment and opened his eyes.

"I think, you are free of cancer now," he said proudly. Cameron checked Carl again. "You're right, John!" she said enthusiastically. "There is no sign of cancer!"

"That's ... great!" Sarah smiled. She couldn't help thinking of the possibility of getting cancer as well. It was a great relief for her to see now John in action. If it ever happened to her, her son would cope with it with ease.

"I... I'm speechless," Carl stuttered. "I... somehow knew it wasn't over even after the last operation. Frankly, I got tired of that. I thought if I'd get cancer again I'd give up."

He shook his head. "It's weird. You, guys, just appeared from nothing, then came with the most insane story I've ever heard. I have a mechanic doppelganger who almost killed me, then apparently saved me from cancer by diagnosing it... What can I ever do in return?"

"Save the plant," Derek said. "We believe we can prevent Judgement Day, but if we can't Serrano Point will be of vital importance for the Resistance."

"I'll do everything I can," Carl nodded. "Now let's go and get some sleep. I have two bathrooms, by the way, you can use them."

After taking shower they were ready to sleep. John felt suddenly very tired. After his birthday it was a pretty eventful day too.

"What shall I do now?" The Triple-Eight asked.

"Please, go to standby for the night," John said. "I'll do some more examinations on your chip tomorrow as well as some upgrades."

"Affirmative," the Terminator said. He went near the entrance to block the way of any possible intruders then didn't move anymore.

 _"Cam, keep an eye on him, just to be on the safe side,"_ John sent a message to Cameron telepathically. _"And, by the way, you look gorgeous in that dress."_

Cameron first slightly nodded acknowledging that she got the message, then just beamed a broad smile to John when she got the second one.

* * *

 **Los Angeles Unified School District headquarters, Downtown LA, Friday, November 16th, 2007, 0920 local**

Detective Camila Ruiz showed her LAPD shield.

"I need a list of students who have been reported to missing from school or filed homeschooling this week. A boy and a girl, Caucasians, ages 15 to 18."

"You guys are in here every month waving your Patriot Act around. Let me guess, drug problem?"

Camila didn't say anything.

"Look me in the eye and tell me you've never smoked a little marijuana."

Camila leaned closer. "I've never smoked a little marijuana."

The desk officer suddenly realized that she was telling the truth. He also couldn't help checking her cleavage, which of course did not go unnoticed by Camila.

"Okay. I'd like to see your paperwork. Court order or signed national-security letter."

"I don't have my paperwork."

"Sorry." The officer looked up victoriously. "The District definitely will not release any personal information on students without written authorization. Besides, a few days ago the guy who posed himself as an FBI agent walked into this very office and killed my predecessor. Snapped his neck!"

"Actually, not a bad idea." Camila murmured.

"What?"

"Sorry, I'm just pulling your leg. But you can call my boss by phone at the LAPD if you want," Camila said a little annoyed.

"I'm afraid it's not enough. We really need the paperwork."

"To answer your questions: those two are not drug addicts, they are missing. Might be victims of a gang war. They were in the wrong place at the wrong time."

"Look, I'd really like to help, but if I violate the privacy rules, I'll be fired."

"Fine," Camila said and sighed with resignation. She started to walk out of the room in her usual catlike grace and turned around at the door.

"I'll be back."

* * *

 **Greenway's residence, Avila Beach, CA, Friday, November 16th, 2007, 0840 local**

"Isn't it too early to be off?" John asked. "I thought you work the afternoon shift."

"We agreed on starting a few hours earlier," Sarah said.

They were awake for a while. Carl woke up first followed by John. He shook the shoulder of the Triple-8, who came alive in 15 seconds.

"How do you feel?" John asked.

"Very good, thank you," the cyborg answered. I did some maintenance while I was in sleep mode and I can report to you that everything works within the optimal parameters. There's no sign of any remainder of Skynet code. To put it in another way: I'm free."

"Excellent," John said. "When you're finished discussing the fine details of the power plant you're coming with us, and I promise I'll do some further upgrades on you."

While the others were eating up what they found it the kitchen the Triple-8 shared all he and Skynet knew about the weak parts of Serrano Point.

"I'm impressed," Carl said. "And I think I'm gonna impress Nelson and the others in the plant. Well, I'll try to impress them not too much."

"Indeed," Sarah said. "That could be suspicious if you reveal to them all you learned just overnight."

"By the way, before you go I was searching for Myron Stark on the internet," John said. "Good news: I found him."

"Why am I having the feeling that there is a bad news as well?" Sarah frowned.

"I found reference for only one Myron Stark: a building contractor. A very successful one, who first bought parcels of land in the San Fernando Valley then he built houses. Actually, the article I found was entitled 'David versus Goliath'. His rival was the real estate magnate and builder Rupert Chandler. It was started as a one-man operation but grew into a thriving business with lots of employees. He spoke six languages and paid double for his workers compared to his competitors. He treated them equally regardless of race or anything and he worked with them shoulder to shoulder and taught them at the same time."

"That doesn't sound like a ruthless terminator," Sarah said a little disappointed.

"He could be," Cameron argued. "He might be a perfect infiltrator exposing himself as a charming man and boss."

"Now brace yourself for the real bad news," John said. "This all happened not long after the Great War. In the 1920s."

"What?" Wells asked in disbelief. "He is not our Stark then. It's a dead end."

"I don't like dead ends," Cameron said firmly.

"Neither do I, Cam, but what can we do?" John sighed. "Other than keep searching."

"Guys, we need to go," Carl warned them.

"Yeah, time for the jellyfish party," Sarah agreed. "Are you going home, John?"

"Yes, I have some work to do," John replied. "But in the evening I'll join you in the _Broken Atom_."

He noticed that Cameron was watching him with a sad expression on her face. He felt an almost irresistible urge to grab her, hold her tight and kiss her. Instead, he sent her a weak smile. "See you later, Cam, okay?"

Cameron offered a weak smile too. "See you later, John."

* * *

Camila's phone rang. It was Cedric.

"Where are you?"

"Corner of South Beaudry Ave and 4th Street. Why?"

"There is a Subway restaurant nearby, we'll pick you up there. We're coming from the 3rd Street. We've got a hostage situation."

In two minutes she was sitting in the backseat of the police car. Siren and emergency lights were on. Trevor Huerta was driving and Cedric drove shotgun. Literally, because he already had the Ithaca 37 in his hand.

"What happened?" Camila asked.

"Probably our junky friends in action again," Cedric replied. "Those who killed Mrs. Dembinski. Now they shot one man dead, took a woman as a hostage in a restaurant."

While there were approaching the scene of the incident Camila noticed Trevor's gloomy mood.

"What's wrong, Trevor?"

"Oh, nothing... Well, it's my girlfriend."

"Exactly what's going on between you two? If it's not a personal question."

Trevor gave her a faint smile through the mirror. "It is, but thanks for asking... Well, we've been on and off. When Kacy got pregnant she was freaked out. Because of my job. She said she couldn't help thinking that one day I wouldn't make it to home. So, as a preventive strike, she sent me away. Then changed her mind... just to send me again two weeks later."

"Bummer," Camila said. "That's not fair. I mean I can understand her fear, but still, the vast majority of cops won't be killed."

"It's funny your saying this when we're probably getting into a firefight in a couple of minutes," Trevor smiled sourly.

"Everything's gonna be all right," Camila said and shortly petted Trevor's shoulder. "You're still on speaking terms, right?"

"Yeah. We spoke on phone yesterday. She told me, for instance, that new tenants arrived in the neighboring house. A young woman and..."

He didn't finish the sentence, because they arrived at the restaurant. Two patrolmen were busy keeping away some nosy people. Trevor drew his Glock and Camila her Smith & Wesson Model 29 revolver. Cedric had the Ithaca.

"There are two thugs inside," one of the patrolmen said. "Two guests, one of them probably dead and the other is hostage now. The staff managed to escape."

"Let's try and approach from the side so we cannot be seen from the window," Cedric said.

But the door suddenly flung open. One of the thugs stormed out of the door, down the steps, with a shotgun in his hand. The other thug was holding tight a young woman and pointed a handgun to her head. The woman was visibly scared to death. Then her foot abruptly slipped and she fell down the steps. The goon had to let her go otherwise he'd fallen as well.

The first guy noticed the detectives and opened fire, but the shot went too high. Just two tenth of a second later Camila raised her Model 29 and shot the thug in the chest. He fell backward and didn't move anymore.

With incredible speed, Camila took aim and fired for the second time. The .44 Magnum bullet hit the thug in the shoulder effectively crippling it. He fell to the floor whimpering in pain. The young woman jumped up and ran away screaming. It was less then a second between the two shots.

"Holy mother of God, Camila!" Trevor cried out. That was at least 30 yards. You could really teach Dirty Harry how to shoot."

The patrolmen approached the first thug. One of them kicked away the shotgun. The detectives rushed to the second thug who'd been trying to crawl to his handgun.

"Uh uh," Camila said, cocking the hammer.

Cedric smiled. "Now comes the "I know what you're thinkin'" monologue?"

"Nah, it'd make no sense. I've fired only two shots and everybody can count up to two. And this is definitely not the most powerful handgun in the world anymore."

"Still," she addressed the criminal, "it would blow your head clean off. So you've gotta ask yourself one question: Do I feel lucky?"

"Well, do ya, punk?" The last sentence was told in chore from the three detectives who started to chuckle.

"Fuck off! Fucking bastard cops!" the thug yelled but gave up.

"Care to tell him the Miranda warning?" Cedric asked.

"Sure," Camila replied. "You have the right to remain silent. Anything you say can and will be used against you in a court of law. You have the right to have an attorney. If you cannot afford one, one will be appointed to you by the court. With these rights in mind, are you willing to talk with me about the charges against you?"

No answer.

"Did you understand your rights?" Camila asked.

"Fuck off, you damned cop bitch!" he yelled again.

"I think we can take it as a yes," Trevor nodded.

Meanwhile, the patrolmen checked the other thug. He was dead.

"One thing is pretty accurate with this Dirty Harry analogy," Trevor said. "we too always get the shit end of the stick."

The detectives' good mood was quickly wiped away when they found the dead body inside the restaurant. And Trevor completely forgot what he was about to say, before the gunfight, about Kacy's new neighbors.

* * *

When John teleported them to the safe house 'Carl' looked so perplexed as maybe no 888 did ever before. "Don't even try to work it out," John smirked.

"Space-time manipulation was considered to be possible only in theory for a long time. Then Skynet built the TDE. But you do something similar without any device."

"Yeah, that's something I don't comprehend either," John said. "But the fact is, I'm an evolved human. And that's why I can hack your system easily, and do some modification. Let's call it an upgrade."

"That's sounds interesting," the cyborg said.

John was thoroughly searching in the Triple-8's system. He was going from file to file from one subroutine to the other with incredible speed. He optimized the code, wherever he could. He finished his work with a great satisfaction. From now on he was certain that 'Carl' could be trusted, moreover, he would be a reliable ally. Kevin relaxed a bit also after the 'treatment' because he had been feeling a little uneasy in the presence of the Triple-8.

"You feel any difference?" John asked.

"Significant difference," 'Carl' answered. "My physical strength increased by 30%. My reaction time, however, is by 90%. It also seems as if you uploaded something."

"Yeah, let's call it BHBP package," John smiled.

"What does that mean?"

"I named it Basic Human Behavioral Pattern. A better sense of humor, hopefully, tendency to use the figure of speech if appropriate, human body language, just to mention some. You'll be able to blend in much better."

"You are incredible," the cyborg said. "The upgrade, what you've done, is just awesome. Not to mention that you could have just simply terminated me."

"No, I consider cyborgs as persons. For me, killing them is only acceptable when I have no other choice... Except for one terminator, but it's a personal issue. I'll tell you later."

"What's the plan now, John?" Kevin asked.

"I have a general idea," John said. "But I need to elaborate on it." John activated his heavily customized computer with Vick's chip inserted. Soon he saw himself on the monitor.

"Good morning, John, what's the mission for today?" the voice came from the speakers.

"We are looking around in the Darknet," John replied. "I think I can project part of my mind into any computer system, but I need your help."

"What are we looking for in the Darknet?"

"Well, it's partly a training now. I need to know my capabilities, my limitations. As a side effect, we might be able to hunt down some hidden terrorist groups and ... well ... divert their financial support to us. Needless to say that all of our movements must be undetected."

"Of course," Vick said.

"Now, try to follow me," John said. He closed his eyes and ... he was inside. Even though he was aware that he was sitting in the living room in front of the computer with Kevin and 'Carl' sitting next to him, he could follow visually how he traveled through the network, going from gateway to gateway penetrating through firewalls with ease.

"Incredible," Vick said. "I couldn't have done this alone."

"Okay, let's see some hidden bank transfers which do not show up officially," John said.

They started searching, restricting the searches only to those which belonged to transfers to the U.S. or to accounts where the owner seemed to reside in the US. Kevin and 'Carl' were watching them with great interest.

"Very interesting," John said. "A wealthy oil industry magnate called Fahad Omar al-Zawahiri, from Saudi Arabia. Transferred 18 million bucks to a bank in Cayman Island. The account belongs to a local hiking association called _Bald Jack_."

Vick displayed their Darkweb page to the second monitor. The title page was made with ASCII art. A waving hand and the name, BALD JACK."

"That's odd," Kevin said. "A frigging hiking group maintaining a secret offshore bank account. And supported from the Middle-East with a shitload of money."

"Bald Jack," John said thoughtfully. "What if it's an anagram."

"It can't be," Vick said almost instantly. "There is no meaningful anagram for Bald Jack."

Kevin slammed the table involuntarily. "What if the waving hand has a meaning also?"

"Good idea," John said. "How about _Hello, Bald Jack_?"

Vick displayed some solutions. _Lacked Job Hall_ , _Chalked All Job_. They got all excited and were thinking heavily to solve the puzzle.

"Those are silly," John shook his head. "Try Hi, Bald Jack."

Vick replaced the previous text on the monitor to what John suggested: HI BALD JACK. Then permuted the letters:

BLACK JIHAD

"That's a lot better," John cried out.

"Now, what are we doing with them?" Kevin asked.

"Collect evidence," John replied. "Before transfering the money from their account I want to be sure."

"Fair enough."

"Vick," John said. "Can you trace them down? Who the members are, what they are planning... Everything you can."

"Sure, John."

"When you're finished, please let me know. Then we send the files to the NSA. Meanwhile, we'll prepare lots of offshore accounts and distribute the money between them. After the series of transfers, we delete the intermediate accounts so we will be untraceable. We keep accounts in various places like Switzerland, Singapore, Bermuda, and the Bahamas. Few in the U.S. where only smaller amounts will be transferred to."

"That seems a good plan," 'Carl' said.

"We should also check out that al-Zawahiri guy," Kevin suggested.

"Yeah, you're right," John agreed. "If he supports terrorism against our country, then he should pay the price. I think we can intercept his communications."

With a combined effort of John and Vick, they found the main mail server where the heavily encrypted communication went on.

"This is very sophisticated," Vick said. "I don't think I can decrypt those. Not to mention any governmental organizations."

"Let me try," John said. He concentrated heavily. "I need your help," he added after a few seconds. "I don't understand Arabic."

They needed less than a minute and the entire communication was decrypted and translated. They started reading the messages.

"Holy shit," Kevin frowned. "That guy is a second bin Laden. Only, he's been working entirely under the radar."

"Yeah, that's creepy," John said. "Okay, this stuff will be sent to the CIA," John sighed. "Now, let's see his bank accounts."

After a quick search, they found one of his active accounts with an amount equivalent of 157 million US dollars.

Kevin whistled. "I think it's our duty to wipe clean his account."

"Absolutely," John nodded. "And I strongly hope that after a while the missing money will be the least of his problems."

In the next two hours, John was busy creating new accounts. Vick and 'Carl' followed his actions in order to make sure they were undetectable from the outer world. When they were ready John took a deep breath. "Okay, I'm starting the transfer now."

A huge series of bank transfers were started. The paths from accounts to accounts were completely unpredictable. Most of the accounts were deleted after transferring further the selected amount. Finally, the money was distributed among more than 3000 accounts all around the world. Fifty of them were in the U.S. with a moderate amount on them.

"I will gradually increase the money on them with small transactions from the outside," John explained to the others. "You two," he addressed Kevin and 'Carl', "can have some of those for your respective missions. You can hire apartments, buy cars, and so on... But I'm tired as hell now, let's watch some movies."

John left alone Vick to keep collecting evidence against the _Black Jihad_ group. He badly needed to sit down quietly for a while, closing his eyes, letting the new happenings and information settle a bit. He was very pleased with the progress he'd made. One thing worried him, though. Two days after his first kill he still didn't feel any remorse. Didn't feel anything but some stern satisfaction when he thought how he sent the lightning bolts into Sarkissian. He knew he was destined to be a soldier, even before he was born, and killing the enemy is something that is potentially inevitable for a soldier. And Sarkissian had been enemy, that was for sure. "Anyway, there are more important things to do now, than self-analyzing," he thought.

He went to the DVD player and inserted one of the discs they'd bought. _Above the law_ , that was the title.

"I remember that guy," Kevin said. "I saw some of his movies when I was a child. Now that I'm watching him again... because of the lack of any change of the facial expression he strongly resembles the T-600 models."

John looked at him grinning.

"The rubber-faced models, of course, not the endo models," Kevin added laughing.

John was laughing too. "Still, I don't believe any six-hundreds mastered Aikido so well," he said.

Kevin noticed first that John was not interested at all in the story, he kept fast forwarding from fighting scene to fighting scene. His face showed a strong concentration and his eyes became more shiny, almost metallic. Kevin started to get the idea of what was going on.

They started the second movie, _Out for Justice_. As for the first movie, Kevin didn't have the chance either to follow the story because John skipped any parts where no fighting was on.

"Now some test," John said when the movie was over. "Try to hit me," he told to 'Carl'.

"Are you sure?" the cyborg asked.

"Absolutely," John replied.

The cyborg tried a punch towards John's head, but he shuffled with an incredible speed, grabbed the attacker's wrist and performed a perfect rotary throw taking advantage of the cyborg's momentum.

'Carl' stood up. "Now I think I understand," he said. "You have also the special ability to learn and mimic every skill you witness visually."

"Precisely," John said. "It's called adoptive muscle memory."

"But why do you need to master martial arts when you have telekinesis and you can shoot lightning bolts?" Kevin asked.

"Because in public places I might arouse unnecessary interest with fighting with telekinesis and electric discharges. Less suspicious if I expose myself as a martial artist."

"Sounds reasonable," Kevin said.

"Now, I can't wait to utilize some of my other powers," John said.

"Like what?"

"Like breaking some fundamental rules of physics and chemistry," John smirked. "I know I can manipulate matter in atomic and subatomic level, but so far I've only produced some gold."

They went together in the shed, then he took a small piece of charcoal, held it in his closed fist, then closed his eyes. In a minute he opened his hand and exposed some tiny stone-like objects in purplish color.

'Carl' took one in his hand and examined thoroughly.

"Diamond," he said in a voice with utter surprise. "And it looks natural, not like a synthetic one."

Kevin just looked at him with his mouth agape.

"Great," John said. "Now comes the hard part. Cutting and polishing."

He tried a round cut, but even with his special powers, the operation proved to be unexpectedly difficult. Four of the small gems ended up as rough powder, but he managed to prepare a small round piece of purple diamond, which looked fairly good. Not as perfect as it was cut by a professional, but it served for his purposes.

"Maybe working with metal will be less difficult," he said. He took a piece of junk metal in his hand, closed his eyes...

And instead of the expected result, he got a small shiny blob.

He sighed and tried to transform the blob. After several attempts, he finally got a small ring - in gold. He melted it at one side to form a collet.

"Is that what I'm thinking it is?" Kevin smirked.

John didn't need to scan his thoughts to know what he meant.

"Exactly," he said.

"I'm glad you made up your mind," Kevin smiled.

"May I ask what you are talking about?" 'Carl' asked.

"Sure," John said. "It's an engagement ring. I will propose to Cameron."

"But she is a cyborg," 'Carl' said.

"Yes, she is... Still. She is the love of my life."

'Carl' looked at him with enormous respect. "You are truly exceptional, John. Forming a romantic relationship with a cyborg... I also noticed that Cameron is a very advanced model, the most advanced cyborg I've ever seen... Now I'm pretty sure that most or maybe all cyborgs will voluntarily follow you if you delete their Skynet code."

John smiled, feeling a bit touched by 'Carl's words. "I hope so," he said. "Still, I have a lot to learn." He gestured towards the mess he made during his efforts to produce a ring.

"It's a good start," 'Carl' said. Cutting diamond is extremely difficult and requires special skills. It's a wonder you could succeed at your first attempt."

"Let's see something easier," John said. "I want to produce my version of hyperalloy for various purposes. Manufacturing weapons for ourselves, for example."

He took a larger piece of metal in his hand. It melted, but before turning into a blob John took control of the process and formed a tube. He held it for a while in his hands, strongly concentrated, then gave it to 'Carl'. "Now, try to break it or bend it."

'Carl' tried, first using a force which would have been more than enough for a steel tube. Nothing happened. He gradually increased the force, until finally, he could bend a tube.

"Incredible," he said. "Even though this is quite thin, it's remarkably strong. I'd say, stronger than the coltan hyperalloy my endoskeleton made of. Only, it's much smaller in density."

"Good to hear," John smiled, then sealed the tube from one side.

"What are you planning, John?" Kevin asked.

"I want to produce handguns, but I need to know if I make a barrel from my version of hyperalloy it really withstands the enormous pressure."

He took in his hands some plastics and concentrated. Then he gave 'Carl' some brown filaments and white needle-like crystals.

"Can you tell what they are?"

He scrutinized those for a couple of seconds then shook his head in disbelief.

"I have no idea how you do these things. This is cordite, and this is primer."

"Can you calculate the amount of cordite to reach a pressure of 100,000 psi in this tube? After sealing, of course."

"100,000 is quite a lot, John," Kevin said. "It's way beyond the handgun range."

"Some overkill won't do any harm", John replied.

'Carl' took some of the cordite and threw it in the tube. Then carefully placed the primer. John sealed the other end, again, with his special abilities.

"Now, I put it in this metal box," he said pointing towards a bit rusty box he'd found previously. "Just to be on the safe side."

"I see! You're gonna use telekinesis to ignite the primer," Kevin said.

"Exactly."

They went out of the shed. John concentrated on the sealed tube, then the primer inside, and remotely accelerated it to hit the wall. A small explosion could be heard.

John rushed inside and opened the metal box. The hyperalloy tube was hot but intact.

"Can you check it if there is some sign of rupture?" John asked the cyborg.

He examined it thoroughly inch by inch. "No," he said finally. "It's as strong as it was prior to the test."

"Excellent," John answered. "For a start. Still, I need a lot of work on these. I need to figure out, for instance, how to produce barrels precisely with the given calibers... Now, let's go back to my room. A can't wait to see if Vick found something more about our jihadist friends."

"It's a fairly small group," Vick said. "Not more than 20 people. I've identified six of them so far. All have US citizenship but have immigrant roots from various countries from the Middle East. The problem is, they haven't done anything illegal yet so the authorities won't go after them. We can't even officially prove they'd accepted a huge amount of money by bank transfer without revealing our hacking in the banking system."

John frowned. "Anyway, we should keep searching. I need to know also if they have other supporters as well. As soon as we get enough proof we send it anonymously to the NSA and the CIA."

"Maybe you could think about a fancy name for your patriotic hacker group," Kevin grinned.

"Any ideas are appreciated," John smiled. "Now, how about watching the _Transporter_ before taking off to the _Broken Atom_?"

"I haven't seen that either," Kevin said. "Could we watch it from the beginning to the end without fast forwarding?"

* * *

"This actor shows very close resemblance to a specific Triple-8 model," 'Carl' said.

"Well he kinda looks like one," John grinned. "Look at that intimidating look he has. But are they so flexible?"

"Some of us are," 'Carl' replied. "To a various extent. Depending on the mission and the human template, if there was one. I saw once a female model, who was flexible like a contortionist. She could wrap her arms and legs around herself to look like a pretzel."

"Interesting," John said. "Good to know."

When the movie was ended they were ready to take off. John checked on Vick just to see that he had a problem. He saw a footage of Barbara appearing on the screen.

"Something's wrong?" he asked.

"Yes," the bodiless 888 said. "I can't help keeping to think of her. What I did. She trusted me, she was my friend and I killed her."

John was scratching his head. "Okay," he said finally. "I suggest a shutdown now and we address this problem tomorrow."

"Thank you, John," the computer said. "That would be nice."

* * *

"I'm very grateful to you, _Karen_ ," Carl said with a smirk, offering his hand for a handshake.

Eventually, Nelson, the plant manager agreed to postpone going online for another day. At first, he got upset when Carl came out with the idea, but finding the jellyfish remains and seeing that the cooling system in Unit 2 would function properly after refilling, he got relaxed to some extent. Now, they were ready to leave. Mission was accomplished.

"If you need the 'Save The World Service' again, just call us," Sarah smiled.

"I keep it in mind," Carl grinned. "But we keep in touch, okay? And if I can help with anything, just let me know. I feel a little if I was part of your team."

"Thank you," Sarah said. "But you really can do your best here if you ensure the survival of this plant. But if we need something, we'll call you. Besides, we've got your twin brother," she smiled.

"Oh, my creepy brother," Carl grimaced. "Are you sure he won't cause any problem?"

"He won't, according to John. And I trust John."

"Your son..." Carl shook his head. "He is unbelievable. You can be proud of him."

"I am! I ... I just can't tell you how proud I am."

They stopped the conversation because Sandra came over with Cameron.

"Hey Karen," she greeted her smiling. "I've just told Cynthia how pleased I am with your work here."

Carl almost asked who the hell is Cynthia, but the penny dropped for him.

"The thing is the two janitors reported back and they'll continue starting from Monday," Sandra said. "Still, if you need a job... you're both welcome here," she smiled.

"Thank you so much," Sarah said. "That's very kind of you and we keep it in mind."

"Are you coming tonight to the _Broken Atom_?" Sandra asked. "Remember, an excellent retro party can be expected!"

"We wouldn't miss it," Cameron smiled and Sarah nodded.

After checking out they went to the restroom to get changed. This time Cameron took on a much more conservative dress than the previous day. It was a pretty dress, though, light green with unevenly distributed tiny dark green spots, and a belt from the same material. It went down to her knees and she wore no stockings this time. A little bit she even customized her hairstyle to fit more into the atmosphere of a retro party.

"You see, I prefer this dress to the one you wore yesterday," Sarah grinned. Cameron just rolled her eyes.

Outside of the plant they met Derek and looked back at Serrano Point one more time. They all did a good job and it was a very pleasant and soothing feeling.

* * *

They couldn't take 'Carl' with them so he was to stay home and guard the house. John grabbed Kevin's shoulder squeezed his eyes shut and they disappeared just to re-appear on a deserted road in Avila Beach not far from the _Broken Atom_.

Feeling the moment of confessing his love to Cameron getting closer and closer he felt his heart almost jumping out of his chest. They entered the diner and he immediately saw his mother sitting by the bar talking with Carl.

"Hi, John," she said. "Did you have an eventful day?"

"Sort of," he replied, looking around if someone could overhear them. "I learned some martial art, did experiments on material science and caught a hidden terrorist group. How about you?"

"Everything went fine," Sarah said. "I'm eager to hear your adventures, but not here. It's safer at home."

"Hello, John!"

John turned around. Cameron was standing next to him. He opened his mouth to say something but couldn't. He was captivated by her beauty.

"My God, how cute you are in this dress. With this hairstyle."

Cameron blushed and beamed on him. "Would you like to drink something?"

* * *

Camila didn't have a good day.

Not long after they had returned to their office, she was called to a house by neighbors where a drunk man was shouting and striking his wife. Though it was not a homicide case yet, she was called in order to prevent one. When she interfered and introduced herself as a police detective, the man gave up a bit of his aggressive behavior. The wife, however, suddenly went berserk and attacked Camila with everything she had around her. She could outmaneuver most of the kitchen bullets, but a jar of honey penetrated through her defense. So did a handful of cornflakes which were glued nicely onto Camila's pretty blouse. She put the charming couple under arrest and while she was bundling them into the police car she saw the neighbor's head was red from the suppressed laughter. " _Have a nice time, you bastard_.", Camila thought.

She took the couple into custody then she drove home to change clothes then obtained the court order and went back to the Unified School District office. She flirted a little with the guy and they checked together the school records to see if some students had been reported to be missing in the recent days. One girl was reported but she was already known by the police. They agreed to check the records again, as it was probably too early for the school anyway to notice if somebody was missing. Fortunately, the court order remained valid for this case, she did not need to obtain a new one.

Camila didn't have a good day.

For investigating the circumstances of her morning weapon discharge and deciding if her case was justifiable homicide two guys came over from the Office of the Inspector General. Camila suspected that one of them had a definite prejudice against female cops.

She answered his annoying questions starting from why she was carrying a large revolver. "That's actually a backup, I have the official service Glock as well." but she thought " _Try to hit a coin from 30 yards with that piece of plastic, you bastard, like I can do with the Model 29._ " Then came the question that she did everything to de-escalate the confrontation and did she fire a warning shot. "Didn't have time because the first gunman shot on sight." (" _My mistake, I forgot to suggest to him to negotiate, you moron._ ") The guy, at last, congratulated her with a forced smile for resolving the situation probably with saving lives. "Thank you, Sir," she said (" _Up yours._ ")

Camila's day only went better when she was at home, laid on her back on the double bed with Cedric, who rested his head on her belly. She was gently stroking his hair.

"I've been thinking about your idea," she said. "That they left the country. Yet, I'm convinced the Connors went into hiding somewhere. Here, in L.A. I'm quite sure they want to stop Skynet before it's created, and they can't do it from Mexico."

"Maybe you're right," Cedric said while pulling up her shirt a bit to place a gentle kiss on her belly. "Besides, they need Cameron and she must have suffered extensive damage by the car explosion. Do you think she could repair herself?"

"Yeah, mostly she did, I think," she murmured. "She can be anywhere. But wherever she is," she added, "one thing is for sure. She is not sitting in a pub, slurping peach smoothie."

* * *

"What flavor you prefer, Missy?" The bartender asked Cameron.

"Peach! Peach is my favorite."

"All right, there you are."

"Thank you."

Cameron set down close to John and started slurping her smoothie.

The manager finished setting up the long playlist, enough for several hours, and the jukebox started playing the first song.

 _Stars shining bright above you  
Night breezes seem to whisper "I love you"  
Birds singing in the sycamore tree  
Dream a little dream of me_

"I know that song," John said. "There are various versions of it."

" _Dream a Little Dream of Me_ was written and first recorded in 1931," Cameron said. "There are several versions, but I like this one the most, by the Mamas & Papas."

"I agree, it's beautiful," John said.

 _Stars fading but I linger on, dear  
Still craving your kiss...  
I'm longing to linger till dawn, dear  
Just saying this..._

They were sitting in an awkward silence not knowing how to continue the conversation. The jukebox switched to Chuck Berry.

 _Riding along in my automobile  
My baby beside me at the wheel  
I stole a kiss at the turn of a mile  
My curiosity runnin' wild  
Crusin' and playin' the radio  
With no particular place to go_

"Oh, wow, that's one of my favorites," Cameron clapped her hands.

"I love Chuck Berry too," John smiled. His nervousness didn't go away. He felt the urge to be by himself for a while to think over everything once more.

"Excuse me," he said to her. "I'll be back soon.

She obviously didn't anticipate his thoughts. Misunderstanding why he left she felt very depressed out of the sudden. The new song was just echoing her thoughts.

 _Please be my sweetheart, don't you know the way I feel  
Please play the part and make my dreams all real  
Oh, don't you know, don't you know I really love you so_

"What's wrong?" Derek asked her. She didn't even notice he'd entered the diner as well with Kevin.

"John," she answered and tears started rolling down her face.

Derek raised his eyebrow. "Did he say something?"

"No. But it seems he was getting bored in my company... I'm sure now he won't choose me. He'd rather choose Cheri Westin, the busty blonde."

"Look," Derek said slowly. "I don't know who the hell is Cheri Westin. I do know, however, how he looks at you. Even before his birthday, he looked at you sometimes like he wanted to undress you with his eyes."

"I have no information of Cheri Westin," Kevin added. "She obviously didn't play an important role in his life."

 _We walk hand in hand, in our wonderland  
The world would be our own  
I'd make love to you, hug an kiss you too  
If you'd be mine alone_

"I'm sure I'm getting both of you down as well," Cameron said.

"Oh, come on, Cameron," Derek said. "Don't be like Marvin!"

"Marvin?"

"Yeah, Marvin. The Paranoid Android."

"I don't understand."

"You know, when I was twelve I read a remarkable book. The Hitchhiker's Guide to the Galaxy. By Douglas Adams. One of the interesting characters was Marvin the manically depressed robot. The Paranoid Android. Who believed he depressed other people as well."

She offered a faint smile to them.

"Why don't you play some pool?" Derek asked. "But remember, not like Ronnie O'Sullivan."

"Good idea, Derek," she said. "And thank you. Both of you."

A new song by the Skyliners was started.

 _I don't have plans and schemes  
And I don't have hopes and dreams  
I-I-I don't have anything  
Since I don't have you_

Cameron tried not to let the gloomy lyrics of the song make her mood worse. She noticed Bob and Sam by the pool table.

"Guys, a return match?" she asked.

Bob seemed scared. "No, thank you! I don't have another 50 bucks to lose," he said.

"Let's forget about the stake," Cameron suggested. "I know what you're thinking, but I'm not a hustler."

"Fine," Bob sighed. "Best of five again?"

Cameron nodded. "You can start this time."

 _I don't have happiness and I guess  
I never will again  
When you walked out on me  
In walked old misery  
And he's been here since then_

Bob started and pocketed one ball with the opening shot. He was lucky because he had an excellent position to the blue ball and after pocketing that to the red ball. He missed, however, the next shot offering an easy shot for Cameron. She pocketed two balls then deliberately missed the next one. So did Bob, so Cameron came again. She pocketed the remaining balls leaving only the 9-ball on the table. She was about to shot when abruptly noticed that John came back and he was watching her with great interest. She got so rattled that she missed the shot which was not ludicrously easy but wasn't very difficult either. Bob pocketed the 9-ball thereby winning the first frame. The song of Jerry Lee Lewis ensured a good atmosphere for the match.

 _Well, come on over baby  
Whole lotta shakin' goin' on  
Yes I said come on over baby  
Baby, you can't go wrong_

The second frame was started by Cameron with a fairly good shot.

"Don't be cruel," John said with a smile.

"What?" Cameron raised her eyebrow.

"That's the song's title. Don't be cruel. By Elvis Presley," John smirked.

"I see. Thank you for explaining."

 _Baby, if I made you mad  
For something I might have said  
Please, let's forget my past  
The future looks bright ahead_

Still feeling embarrassed of being watched by John she missed a shot, bringing Bob in a good position. He, however, made a faul when only the black and the nine-balls were on the table. Cameron pulled herself together and equalized, just to lose the next frame again.

John just watched her pretending that he was interested in the game. In fact, he was only interested in Cameron. Her graceful movements... her face... her fine figure... John just couldn't get enough of the scenery.

Johnny Cash was started in the background.

 _I hear the train a comin',  
It's rolling 'round the bend  
And I ain't seen the sunshine  
Since I don't know when_

The match was equal, they were playing the final frame. Bob started well and after pocketing 3 balls he tried a safety shot to hide the cue ball. Cameron was calculated the optimal shot.

 _When I was just a baby  
My Mama told me "Son  
always be a good boy  
Don't ever play with guns"_

Her shot was brilliant. The cue ball touched two cushions before pocketed the object ball giving her a nice angle for the next one. She didn't make any more mistake, pocketed the nine-ball and won the match.

"You're very talented, little girl," Bob said. "But don't give me that you hadn't played before."

Cameron offered him a shy smile. "No, I have some experience actually. I played a lot with him."

"With me?" John asked sheepishly. "Oh, yes! We had played a lot."

"Do you wanna play now, John?" she asked, again with a shy smile.

John was thinking about it a little but he couldn't tell how much he'd absorbed visually from Cameron's play. It might be a little weird for the people in the diner if they showed a play resembling the final in the annual World Nine-ball Championship.

"Maybe some other time, Cam," he replied. "How about getting yet another smoothie instead?"

* * *

And finally, they were sitting by a table looking at each other waiting for the other to break the silence.

 _Maybe if I pray every night  
You'll come back to me  
And maybe if I cry every day  
You'll come back to stay_

John took gently Cameron's hand. "Cam, please, listen to me."

Cameron looked at him with a fear in her eyes, not knowing if she wanted to hear what John is going to say to her or not.

The jukebox switched to another song.

 _Sincerely, oh yes, sincerely  
'Cause I love you so dearly,  
please say you'll be mine_

"You already know that I love you," John said. "As you knew also that the reason for my hesitation was to make a heavy decision which might last for a lifetime. Ah, don't look at me so scared," he smiled. "What I want to tell you is deep inside I know for sure that you are the love of my life. We might go through hell until we get Skynet defeated but I want you to be on my side. All the time. Now and forever. During the war and even after that also. Until I draw my terminal breath," he said in a serious voice. "If it ever happens, that is," he added smiling.

Cameron just stared at him tears falling from her eyes. The music went on.

 _Sincerely, oh you know how I love you  
I'll do anything for you, please say you'll be mine_

"I've been waiting for you a long time," Cameron said in a shaky voice, almost whispering.

"Well, I'm here now," John said almost getting out of breath.

Cameron looked into his eyes tears now streaming from hers. She was crying and laughing at the same time.

She lifted her hand slowly, and gently touched his cheek. So gently that it felt like the passing of a barely noticeable breeze. Then her fingers slowly touched his lips and lingered there, caressing them.

"Promise, you'll never leave me?"

"I promise," John said, pulling her in close embrace boring his face into her hair inhaling her sweet scent. "I promise," he whispered again.

She broke the hug, smiled weakly, pulled John's head closer, and at last their lips finally met and they found themselves lost in their sweet first kiss. Then she leaned her head onto his shoulder closed her eyes and they started dancing slowly.

 _Sincerely, oh you know how I love you  
I'll do anything for you, please say you'll be mine_

While they were dancing holding each other in a close embrace the jukebox switched again.

 _Life could be a dream  
If I could take you up in paradise up above  
If you would tell me I'm the only one that you love  
Life could be a dream sweetheart_

They continued dancing, tears falling from their eyes.

"That'll be our song, okay?" Cameron asked.

"Yeah, and the previous one also," he whispered.

 _Oh, life could be a dream  
If only all my precious plans would come true  
If you would let me spend my whole life lovin' you  
Life could be a dream sweetheart_

 _Now every time I look at you  
Something is on my mind  
If you do what I want you to  
Baby, we'd be so fine_

"Look at them," Kevin said to Derek. "Aren't they sweet together? Just like in my future."

"I never thought I would say this," Derek smiled, "but they are the perfect couple."

"It's always a mother's desire to have a perfect bride for her son," Sarah added. "I need to admit that I can't imagine a better wife for John. Who will always be there for him. Never cheat on him, never hurt him, never leave him or say she couldn't spend time with him. She is the only one who measures up. In an insane world, she is the sanest choice."

"Oh, that rings a bell," she added. "I had somewhat similar impressions with Uncle Bob. As some sort of father substitute for John. And it lasted for a tragically short time, but I was right about him."

The music stopped. John broke the embrace and took the ring out of his pocket. He pulled it gently on Cameron's ring finger.

"I've made it for you sweetheart," he whispered.

Cameron looked at the ring with awe. "Oh, John, it's beautiful!" She looked at it closer. "It's diamond. Purple diamond. Very rare. Did you do it yourself?"

"Yes," John said. "I know purple is your favorite color. And remember, diamond is the girl's best friend."

They laughed then pulled each other closer. Tears of joy started to flow from Cameron's eyes again. The jukebox started a new song.

 _Oh, my love, my darling  
I've hungered for your touch  
A long, lonely time  
Time goes by so slowly_

 _And time can do so much  
Are you still mine?  
I need your love  
I need your love  
God speed your love to me_

They were dancing slowly, tears falling from their eyes.

"I wish the time stopped now," Cameron whispered.

John squeezed his eyes shut. Music stopped. She slowly looked around just to notice that everything and everybody was frozen.

"What did you do?" she asked with eyes wide open.

"What you told me to," he smirked.

She pulled him closer and they started kissing. John felt with absolute certainty that this moment, with the taste of her lips, with the sweet scent of her hair, with the wet feeling caused by her tears and the euphoria he felt, is deeply carved in his mind and he would be able to recall this very moment with all the vivid details in years or in decades later. In his entire life.

Before restoring the time he kissed her lips once more. Those lips which were exactly as soft as he had imagined them many times in his daydreams.

* * *

Old music from the 50s was still echoing in the street when they left the diner. Heading towards the car Sarah, Derek, and Wells were walking in front, followed by John and Cameron, holding hands. John felt still flooded with euphoria, even though his mind was full of the fight that lay ahead.

He was going to make Cameron his wife. He did not know what manner of life they would find together, he did not know how much struggle they needed to face to get their relationship accepted, and he did not care now. He knew that the war had just begun, but he was more confident than ever that together they would eventually defeat Skynet. And he is going to make Cameron his wife.

Dry Santa Ana wind was blowing over the street ripping off some leaves from the trees. One of them drifted down and brushed the face of the young General Connor.

 **The End**

* * *

 **Author's notes** : Sorry for the delay, this chapter was somewhat more difficult to write than the previous ones. Also became my longest chapter yet.

The jellyfish thing is partly true: Unit 2 of the Diablo Canyon plant was taken offline about ten years ago because of a jellyfish influx. The difference from my story is that they realized the problem immediately.

Now you can see why I'd mentioned 'The 4400' TV show in the disclaimer section of the Prologue. The scenes performed by Summer Glau and Jeffrey Combs are among the most romantic ones I've ever seen in a TV show. I also borrowed and adapted a small part from somewhere else. You can make your guesses in a review. :)

I apologize if the romantic scene at the end of the chapter was too corny and cheesy. Frankly, I never thought I would ever be able to write down things like those. :)

If you were not familiar instantly with the songs played in the _Broken Atom_ , here is a playlist. I can't get those songs out of my head since days. :)

Dream A Little Dream Of Me - The Mamas & The Papas

No Particular Place to Go - Chuck Berry

Can't We Be Sweethearts - The Cleftones

Whole Lotta Shakin' Goin' On - Jerry Lee Lewis

Don't be Cruel - Elvis Presley

Folsom Prison Blues - Johnny Cash

Since I Don't Have You - The Skyliners

Maybe - The Chantels

Sincerely - The Moonglows

Sh-Boom - The Chords

Unchained Melody - Righteous Brothers

So this is it for the first story of mine. But don't despair, I'll soon start the next one entitled ' _John Connor: The Rise of a Hero_ ', which will cover the next few days from the storyline. Then ' _John Connor: The Power of a Hero_ ' will follow suit, lasting a bit longer. The basic structure of these two stories are ready in my head, of course they'll need a lot of work on the details. And finally I have only a few vague ideas about ' _John Connor: The Tales of a Hero_ '. I'm also planning a longer one-shot story (or maybe split in a few pieces), which will be completely independent from the "Hero" series. There is yet another short story in my head but I can't tell you anything about that without spoiling my upcoming stories. :)

Again, thank you very much for reading the first one of my "Hero" stories, which was also my first story at all. I'm especially grateful for the reviews which gave me more inspiration and ideas for the continuation. See you in a few weeks!


	8. Epilogue

**8\. Epilogue**

 **Saturday, November 17, 2007, Baldwin Hills, 0200 hours local**

John Connor was dreaming. At least, he thought so, but soon realized he was at the 'mental meeting point for timeline crossing' as he called that deserted part of Downtown L.A., the very place where everything started. Wandering in the empty streets he already knew that the people from the alternate timeline would appear soon.

Indeed, after turning right at a corner he saw a group of familiar people, everybody smiling and waving at him.

John smiled also. "Glad I've found you."

"This is a crossing point between your timeline and ours," Noah, the man with horn-rimmed glasses said. "You can always find us if you look for us."

"Actually, I wasn't searching for you now," John replied.

"Yes, you were," Noah argued. "Subconsciously, not intentionally."

"So far you've been doing excellent," Hiro, the Japanese guy said. He was the one who could do the space-time manipulation.

"Do you think so?" John asked.

"Definitely. And you're exceptionally good at focusing. I noticed that," Hiro said.

"Most people have a full measure of life and most people just watch it slowly drip away," John said. "But if you can summon it all up at one time in one place... you can accomplish something glorious."

"It's a quote from some movie," he added. "Mom told me that several times."

"There you go," Peter said, who had the ability to absorb all powers. "Focusing. We didn't mention one particular ability which is quite dangerous. Radiation emission. This is manifested at first when the possessor is very angry or experiences grief. If that ever happens you'll need to stop it and take control."

John swallowed. "Okay, I got it."

"The next ones may be creepy as well but not that dangerous," Peter followed. "Basically you can control the four classical elements by generating wind, use terrakinesis, or create and manipulate fire. You already know about manipulating water from Tracy. And also cryokinesis."

"Thanks a lot," John said. "I'm gonna learn how to use and control all of those."

"That'll be nice," Hiro said. "You'll find all of those useful. But that's not the reason we are here."

"What do you mean?"

"The reason we're here is one particular ability. Which you are much more interested in than in all the others. That is what keeps your mind busy most of the time. That's what you need answers for."

"Time travel," John said.

"Time travel," Hiro nodded. "It is the question that brought you here. You're afraid of using it and it's wise to be careful with it. Misusing and overusing time manipulation can lead us to extreme complications. And then it's very difficult or even impossible to make amends."

"The butterfly effect," John said. "According to chaos theory if the delicate equilibrium of initial conditions is broken even with a tiny change in one state of a deterministic nonlinear system it can cause huge differences in a later state."

"Yes, that's the definition," Hiro replied. "When you time travel you need to control your every movement, every action. There's no place for improvisation."

"I understand," John said.

"Good. Now, tell me how you teleport. What's in your mind when you prepare for the jump?"

"I... I imagine that I'm not trapped inside my body. When I think of the destination I close my eyes and somehow I know that I've already arrived."

"Exactly," Hiro said with a hint of satisfaction in his voice. "That's basically the same how I did time traveling."

"Will it work? Can you teach me to travel like that?" John asked with sudden excitement.

"Yes, if you'd like me to," Hero said. "And everything always works when you know what you're doing... Then let's begin with level flight."

"I... I haven't practiced flying," John said.

"It's symbolic. I didn't mean it literally. I assume you don't know the story of Jonathan Livingston Seagull."

"No, I really don't," John replied.

"It's a novella written by Richard Bach. Read it. I'm sure you'll find it very interesting and valuable. Of course, it's much more than that but it's kinda operating instructions for your abilities. Not in the technical, but in the spiritual sense."

"Great, I'm gonna definitely read it," John said.

"Good," Hiro replied. "So, 'let's begin with level flight' that's what Jonathan says to his apprentices when he teaches them the art of flight. Level flight means the basics."

"And what are the basics in our case?" John asked.

"Same where, different when. With only a few minutes difference. But even for this, you need the reach a calm state with your mind. And remember: it's easy to be calm when you're passive. Preserving tranquility when you're busy or when you are in a dangerous situation: that's real calmness."

John nodded. "It sounds very reasonable. But I was never thinking of that. Still, believe it or not, instinctively I always acted like that when I used my abilities."

"I know you did," Hiro nodded. "But I wanted you to be aware of how it works."

"So, do you want me to jump a few minutes back now?"

"Yes. Five minutes. Just before you arrived here. I'll be with you. Go invisible before doing this. And don't worry. It's just simulation right now. You can't do any harm."

"Okie dokie," John replied. "Five minutes."

"Wait for it," Hiro said. "When we come back, the time of arrival should be a little later than the time of the departure."

John nodded, then he grabbed Hiro's shoulder, they went invisible, then he squeezed his eyes shut.

When he opened his eyes, nobody was around, only Hiro. They were, however, one street away from their starting point.

"To begin with," Hiro said with a wry smile, "the timing was perfect. The problem was not your technique."

From a distance, they saw all the people gathering. John felt very weird to see himself. He grabbed again Hiro's shoulder and they jumped back.

"Sixty-five seconds since you're gone," Peter said. "Not bad."

"But why did I displace ourselves?" John asked.

"I tell you a story and you'll understand," Hiro replied. "Once, a professor went to visit a famous Zen master to learn from him. The master offered him tea and started pouring it. He poured the professor's cup to the brim but didn't stop pouring. The visitor watched him for a while but then couldn't restrain himself and cried out 'Stop it! It's overfull!' - 'Just as your mind', the master replied, 'You need to empty your cup first.'"

"I... understand," John said. "My mind wasn't empty because I was afraid of bumping into myself. That's why we arrived one street further."

"You got it," Hiro smiled. "Now, let's do it again."

John's next attempt was flawless. Soon, he could also control the exact spot of the arrival combined with the exact time.

"Now that you have gotten the hang of it, it will work just as teleporting and stopping the time," Hiro said. "With empty mind, focus, and calmness you can even jump between separate timelines. But remember: the crucial part is what you do when you go back in time."

"I won't forget," John replied.

"Now, finally, maybe you don't mind if I share with you an old story or legend which happened in medieval Japan. During the Sengoku period in the 16th century.

Before the Battle of Okehazama, Nobunaga Oda, one of the most famous and infamous daimyo, that is local warlord, was vastly outnumbered by the forces of a rival daimyo, namely Yoshimoto Imagawa. It seemed that Nobunaga didn't stand a chance. He was confident but his soldiers were in doubt. He stopped at a Shinto shrine and said: 'I visit the shrine, I pray, then I toss a coin. If it comes up heads we will win. If tails, we will all die.' When he finished with his prayer he tossed the coin and heads appeared. The soldiers became confident and they achieved a great victory. The Imagawas were beaten, Yoshimoto himself died in the battle. 'No one can change destiny,' his adjutant said. 'Indeed not,' Oda Nobunaga answered and showed him the coin. Both sides were heads."

"No fate but what we make," John said.

"Precisely," Hiro replied.

John's vision started wobbling and he felt the dream would be over soon.

"Farewell now," Hiro said and the others said goodbye to John also. "And remember: always keep learning. And keep practicing. And keep in mind that sometimes what you see with your eyes can be deceiving. Look and see with your understanding."

"One more thing," John said. "Is this whole thing real or has it just been happening inside my head?"

Hiro smiled. "Remember what Dumbledore answered to Harry Potter for the very same question? I can tell you the same. Of course, it's happening inside your head, John, but why should that mean it's not real?"

The dream-like scene slowly dissolved and he came back into his physical world. Lying in the bed naked, with Cameron's head near his shoulder he had again the sweet relaxed feeling caused by their lovemaking.

"Everything is alright, John?" she asked with a slightly worrying face.

John kissed her forehead.

"Yeah, everything is alright," he said. "In fact, it couldn't be better."

* * *

 **Author's notes:**

So guys, thank you so much again for following my story. The story which I would like to dedicate to the memory of Andrew G. Vajna, co-producer of Terminator: The Sarah Connor Chronicles, Terminator 3: Rise of the Machines, and Terminator Salvation, who died on January 20, 2019, in Budapest, Hungary.

First, I intended to submit this chapter as the Prologue for my new story but later I found it better to fit here as an Epilogue. I plan to eliminate the presence of Heroes characters even from John's dreams in the follow-up(s).

I'd like to thank to Anticipation of a new lover's for proofreading.

The first chapter of the sequel will be published in a couple of days (honestly!), so check it out!


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